Tied Hearts
by Gentle-Wind
Summary: Naruto is leaving for Myobokuzan. Tsunade refects on Naruto and Sakura. Perhaps if they were put together, they could realize what she knows. But more occurs than Tsunade and Fukasaku could imagine: a bond unprecedented. NaruSaku, spoilers
1. Reflection and Hope

**Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto**

Raindrops were immersing everything. Idly, they gushed over the peaceful village. No lightening or thunder intruded, the only sounds being the slow churning of the water in the streets and gutters, the soft pitter against windows, the thrumming of the rain slashing against homes. Deceptively turning late-afternoon into night, the dark clouds hung above in a reproaching manner, causing most people to be hidden safely away in doors.

Standing inside the Hokage Tower was one such person. The blonde woman sat wearily in her chair, delicate forehead against her desk. Heaving up her head, she bleakly observed the weather outside through her window, muttering under her breath, "Damn rain." Then she threw back a glass's worth of sake into her mouth, feeling the burn slither down her throat. A brunette entered the room, sighing upon seeing the sight before her.

"Lady Tsunade, I really doubt that if people were to see you now, they'd feel the village was in a stable position." Glaring, Tsunade started to pour another drink.

"Yeah, well, I could care less for pristine impressions right now, Shizune." The hokage finished filling the shot glass to the brim with alcohol, gripping it with both hands. But she didn't bring it to her lips, opting to instead stare out the window, and watch the world submerge until the sun came out. The silence held, Shizune looking at her lady's profile.

"You miss him so much, don't you?" Shizune questioned. Tsunade kept deathly still for an agonizing instant.

"More than you could know," she said aloud in an emotionless voice. The Godaime turned her gaze to her cup, its contents holding only empty comfort.

Shizune continued her questioning. "And now, do worry for Naruto? About what will happen to him?" Hands tightening on the glass, Tsunade faced Shizune. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know, Lady Tsunade?"

"What I mean is, I don't know. Not a single coherent clue." Her amber eyes became clouded, like wispy smoke was dancing around her pupils.

"He is so much like Jiraiya is…was." A statue sat behind the desk in the office. Words leaked from its hardened mouth like a drip from an old faucet.

"Was."

The words dangled in the air ruthlessly. Only when something dark caught her attention from the corner of her eye did Tsunade stir. She turned herself towards its direction, to discover a simple black glove. It looked sturdy enough, but was obviously battered and worn, as if it had been forced to deconstruct the earth itself. The design and shape itself was slender and feminine almost, made for a small and deceptively delicate hand.

More trickled past her lips. "She is like me as well. How foolish of her."

Shizune waited out her leader's musing. Only when the Tsunade seemed to have forgotten both her and the sake she was holding did Shizune speak.

"So when Naruto leaves for Myobokuzan tomorrow, do you think he will be ready? After all, to learn sage techniques is a vast undertaking."

Leaning her head back, Tsunade diverted her eyes to the ceiling. "That brat has determination times a thousand. He'll do fine. No, he'll do well. Physically and mentally, he is very strong…"

She kneaded her fingers together and placed them behind her head.

"But I wonder about the rest of him. Strong because of so much suffering." Softly spoken out of her heart.

"But couldn't he be just as strong if some of that ache was soothed." She limply whispered .

"Or even healed?"

The beautiful, mournful woman looked like she was molded into her current position, unable to move, Shizune thought. Stuck.

But Tsunade did stir, only to pick up the near-forgotten black glove. She trailed her fingers along the cracked material. "Perhaps, for them it could be different..."

"Lady Tsunade?" The blonde focused on the gentle young woman. "How…will you help Naruto? To heal him?"

Glove still in hand, Tsunade only said, "It won't be me who mends his wounds."

--

Away from the Hokage Tower, on a bridge above slowly over-filling water stood someone drowning. At the moment he waded through the strange murkiness that exists between being a boy and being a man. Steps had to be taken cautiously, for one wrong turn, and in place of the man there would be an animal. A beast.

This almost man, maybe beast watched the violent ripples in the water crash and spread outwards until they infected everything they could before they died. His blue eyes didn't brood like the weather around him though. They were thoughtful, but bright with hope.

"Tomorrow…" The loud-mouth ninja was quiet, a refection of his surroundings. Though Mother Nature was making a gentle racket, no human sound but his own broke through. In the downpour, he stood alone.

"Naruto!"

Or so he thought. Turning to find who else was crazy enough to be outside, he found a cherry blossom carrying an umbrella, coming haughtily in his direction. The wind blew it into his arms.

"Whoa, Sakura! You okay?" Naruto placed both his hands against her petite shoulders, bracing her as she gathered her bearings. He slowly dropped his hands away. A smile was tugged from his face.

"Heh, you can demolish whatever you'd like with your bare hands, but the wind can push you over so easily?" He teased, "Your one true weakness?"

She glared. "It caught me by surprise. I'm fine by the way. The question is, you idiot, what're you doing? It's pouring out!" Locking his eyes with her stern gaze, Sakura huffed, "You're not invincible!"

Naruto just kept on grinning, understanding she was not truly upset. Just a little concerned. "A little shower is nothing for a future hokage!"

Jade eyes scowled. "Oh, I'm sure Konoha will be impressed with your ability to catch pneumonia." However, a slight smirk peaked out as she admonished him.

Sighing, her annoyance dissolved into a puddle, mixing with the raindrops on the ground.

Relaxing against the slick railing, the blonde was unconcerned. "I was just thinking a bit. Besides, the rain is starting to let up. It eased up once you reached the bridge."

Naruto's words were indeed true, and now the gale was leisurely lessening to a sprinkling.

The Rosette was not so easily swayed. Joining him at the railing, she said, "Still, you should be resting, not having a soaked contemplation. After all, tomorrow…" The rest of her sentence was lost, falling into the depths of the water below. The water was colder all of a sudden, a biting, icy needlepoint stab.

Sakura's throat felt drier, despite the moisture surrounding her. She managed to speak nonetheless. "Tomorrow, you leave." Stealing a glance at him, she met his cerulean eyes, which bored into her with their sudden disquiet.

"Sakura-chan, are you feeling alright?" Naruto thought she seemed faded, faint almost.

Seeing his earnestness, the green-eyed teen's lips pulled into fogged up reflection of a smile.

"It doesn't seem like you've been back nearly long enough." The blossom didn't flinch away from the wind's gaze. "You're my closest friend…I'll miss you while you're gone."

That. That simultaneously made him light and weak, like a leaf blowing in the caress of a warm spring breeze. Naruto felt warmth colliding into and around him, even though the dark gunmetal still idled above.

Sakura could see the instant shock in his expressive eyes. Never able stifle anything, it seemed to her. Everything about him, from his energy to his kindness seemed to overflow passionately from Naruto.

Her smile lightened into something more effortless. "What, didn't think I'd be glad to get rid of you, did you?" The rose-haired girl teased with a soft lilt in her voice.

The flaxen ninja grinned down at her, but his surprise still lingered. "Well, you're unpredictable, Sakura-chan. I can never know what you're thinking."

Her lips felt comfortable with her next words. "You can guess what I'm thinking better than most." A sigh trembled out of her. The sound was so tender, and a split-second desire grasped Naruto to catch it as it left his precious friend. Then he chuckled aloud at his strange longing.

"_Can't learn, can you?"_ Naruto thought. _"You made a promise, and you never go back on your word. Ever..."_

His companion quirked a pink eyebrow. "What joke did I miss?"

The blonde teen twisted around so that his back was towards the railing, tilting his face towards the sky. "Nothing, just a silly impossible wish."

Pale rose petals twisted into a smirk. "Impossible for you? Never thought I'd live to hear it. What could escape your determination?"

Naruto moved, looking upon the visage in front of him. Her shock of pink hair flirted along the tops of her shoulders. Her deep emerald orbs were clear and playful now, contrasting with her creamy skin. Her lithe figure was still propped up against the bridge, like a flower against a fence. Wistfully, he pronounced, "Just something too precious for the likes of me."

His friend frowned. "I doubt that. And you can't have that sort of attitude tomorrow! You're going to learn sage techniques and bring yourself one step closer to becoming hokage and…" Eyes twisting with each other's, a link of pain was shared.

"And to bringing back Sasuke." Naruto finished.

Sakura nodded. She gripped the wood in front of her firmly "So work hard Naruto. Reach even higher. For Jiraiya…become even better than he was." Naruto felt a wrenching pull, but the rosette continued on. "Whatever happens, you are so powerful, so good. Just hold on to that and everything will work itself out." Her smile returned. "So bring on the enthusiasm, idiot."

His eyes seemed to flash electric. The azure-eyed boy twisted to stand facing Sakura, beaming down at her. His arms were raised at his sides, flinging themselves around in the wave of Naruto's animated resolve.

"You're right. I'm going to learn everything the old frog can throw at me! I'll learn super fast, and become the best! I'll be strong enough to protect everyone." His arms descended down to hang at his sides. "And then I can come back."

The girl watched his emotions play out, feeling as if the sun emanated from him, the rays pushing past the downpour and resting upon her. "Of course," she tried to say indifferently, but the warmth still seeped out into her voice.

"I just wish I could come too. You always get to travel to the interesting, exotic locations. Me, I'm stuck with the same old, same old when we're not doing missions."

He spoke cheeringly to her, "Someday you'll get the chance. I'll make sure you do."

"Thank you." She laughed, "I'll hold you to that promise. You'll be sorry when you have to pay for my vacation." Suddenly Sakura stopped, then questioned in surprise, "When did the rain stop?"

Naruto looked away from the cherry blossom, to notice the sunset turning the formerly forlorn sky into a splash of midnight blue, pinks, and gold. "I dunno, I didn't notice." He sniffed the air. "It smells new."

Another laugh flew out of the girl. It was just like him she thought, so honest.

"Well, I suppose we should both head home. You need sleep." She took in his wet appearance. "And a towel," she grumbled.

"Okay," Naruto said agreeably. "I can tell when I need to stop arguing with you."

"Good to know you're not a total moron." She gracefully glided across the bridge feather-lightly. She turned to Naruto when she reached the end. The flower reproached him. "Aren't you going to walk me home?"

Naruto smiled, then dashed across the wooden planks until he reached her, both striding into the coming night

--

Though it was late at night now, the Godaime was still in her office, head bowed. She stayed this way for a long, creeping time, until finally she lifted her head. She strode out the door, only to face her guard. "You there, I need you to bring someone to my office immediately, I don't care how late it is."

"Yes, Godaime, who is it?" the subordinate asked.

"Go find Fukasaku. I want to ask that sage something…."

**Well, this is the first chapter of my first big story! Unlike my other submissions before, this will have multiple chapters. I have a plot figured out, but when I actualy go to write the other chapters, not sure how long this story will be. **

**But I hope you all enjoy this! I plan to have the next chapter up in a week or two. Until then, Review please!! I'd like to know what you all think so far :D**

**Now I'm off to do homework(collapses into fetal position)**


	2. Journey for Two

**I do not own Naruto(sadly)**

The midnight cool twisted into the room, permeating cautiously. With her back facing the door, Tsunade stood awaiting the arrival of her deceased friend's former mentor. Such a meeting at this time was past reason, but then, she was almost reaching that point anyway.

Tawny eyes swept over the serene, shadowed village that once upon a time she had sworn to abandon. Never had she considered that she would return to not only live with, but protect its' inhabitants. All her tortured oaths, only to be amended by one blonde brat's influence. One person, who tore past the shroud that had obscured her heart. Her hand floated up to sit palm down just under her left collarbone. The skin was warm, despite the cold that clamped its jaws.

She almost smirked. _"If I had known when I met the hard-headed dummy that he would make me feel so much, I might have left the town that night." _The Godaime drank in the night before her.

"_Thank the gods I was ignorant." _

A flash breaking up the sky's infinite stretch caught her eye. Something was darting quickly across a nearby rooftop. As the thing came closer, Tsunade saw that its motion was a rapid hop. The shape finally made its way to the window she currently gazed out of.

Regarding her frustratedly, the visitor perched himself on the ledge. A decrepit and squat creature grumbled.

"Tell me, what reason do you have to make one of your little shinobi come and wake me up at this hour? My warty skin and I need plenty of rest, you know." Fukasaku glared for a moment. "All you young people have no respect at all."

If the legendary sucker hadn't been about to ask the sage for a great favor, sure to be breaking all sorts of protocol, she might have doubled up in laughter.

"_Young? If Naruto heard that, he'd be in an uproar." _The image of the grinning man obscured her thoughts. Always so bright, and spreading it to others.

Recalling that light of his almost blinded her.

No matter how disgruntled he might have claimed he was, the old amphibian waited silently for Tsunade to enlighten him. Now she took a steadying breath, frigid air filling her lungs until it seemed like they would pop from the pressure. Slowly, she released it, the sound strangely mimicking a gasp.

"Naruto will be leaving with you tomorrow." The pigtailed woman pulled her jacket tighter around herself. "He will be following in Jiraiya's footsteps and learn the toad sage arts. I have no lack of faith that you will teach him much, and that he in turn will seize the knowledge you have to offer. And become that much stronger. Your training will prepare him for the coming challenges that could very well crush him. Not that he'd let that happen before he was cold and still on the ground."

Fukasaku did not desire to be so patient for much longer, but he did not voice that. Yet. Instead, he let his other observations known.

"Yes, that young'un seems quite the plagued sort. A demon, the nine-tailed fox no less, entwined with his own soul, no family left to turn to for comfort, and a traitorous renegade friend to boot. Not to mention the hate and attention of many. What a background for the child of prophecy."

The legendary sannin stared earnestly at him. "Before, you said you only wished the child of prophecy was like Naruto. Now you have no doubt that he is the one?"

"Little Jiraiya didn't." The ancient creature leaned against the window frame. "And he fits the prophecy perfectly. Therefore I am convinced. I just didn't want the boy worrying about that just yet. In extremely old age, you recognize these sorts of things for what they are."

Tsunade dug her nails into the inside of her hands, only to release the grip a second later. Deep, wine tinted half-moon marks gazed wonderingly up at her.

She spoke. "Then that only reaffirms my decision."

Interested, Fukasaku considered her.

Her words fell around him. "I've known Naruto since he was twelve years old, and the kid was such a dense brat. Loud and boastful, he dared to reprimand me when I expressed less than complimentary thoughts about the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The shrimp berated me for not having enough respect, for going as far as to show the position of hokage, which he shouted he would someday hold, any contempt. Then he _challenged_ me. Someone far above his level, who he should have known better than to anger." She paused.

"But he didn't care at all about what he was supposed to do. Naruto just went charging in because his heart told him to. That's what makes him act the way he does. While he isn't exactly book-smart, he's far from dumb. At times, he can actually be quite inventive. His heart just hauls him in most of the time, and he follows it willing and ready. He accepts the consequences that attitude gives him without a single regret" Lines drew themselves on her youthful, pretty face. "Except perhaps once…when Sasuke Uchiha left the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Taking in this knowledge about his soon-to-be-apprentice, Fukasaku wondered what exactly Tsunade was getting at. His unasked question would be answered soon enough.

"So, after some events including a wager, a necklace, and an old snake, this brat managed Rasengan against another Konoha traitor. And he saved me." She turned to find stars smiling at her against the raven backdrop.

"When I returned, I still marveled at my choice. How did this little genin manage to completely alter what I had believed for so long? But then he led me to someone, who he begged me to mend. At first, Naruto had tried just dragging me to the hospital, but soon his eyes pleaded for his friend's sake." The sage had to strain to hear the hoarsely whispered name.

"Sasuke."

"Naruto had another friend he demanded I heal, Rock Lee, and indeed I helped restore that boy to complete health…But the Uchiha was beyond my help. I can't forget the passing desperation in Naruto's eyes, so frantic. But he was determined not to let his friend escape."

Fukasaku noticed that for a brief moment her eyes roamed to land on her desk, where a single glove lay.

"Later on, I heard that he had made a promise to a comrade…Sakura Haruno. The promise of a lifetime." Tsunade's voice was far-off. "Before Naruto left, she had cried for him to bring Sasuke back to her, that he was the last hope she had. I think she hates herself for saying that, so long ago."

Shade off golden eyes pierced the sage's bulged orbs like fresh shruikens.

"Pain has always snapped at his heels. No matter how hard or fast he runs, it tries to catch him. Sometimes the ache could be dulled, or numbed until it almost went away even…but I think that it doesn't plan on ending its assault on him yet. And while I know he would be protected in the physical sense while he trained on Myobokuzan.._._ Jiraiya has gone on to some other adventure, but he left Naruto's fight behind. Though Naruto has accepted this forced battle, I have the feeling that his perfect facade is just masking some of the hurt left behind."

The sky whistled bleakly, for a passing moment.

"I don't want him be alone. I want someone there while he takes on the sage training. You can give him the tools, and a friend, well, that person can be there to make sure Naruto can use them. Not become merely a tool himself."

Empty space crashed in now that the hokage had finally finished. Fukasaku's mouth stayed firmly sewn together like it had for the whole time Tsunade had been speaking, in a thin, wrinkled line. Stillness pulled itself through the crevices, dragging across the ground beneath their feet.

A croak-like sound jumped out.

"So then, presuming I agree, which tadpole exactly do you have in mind to tag along? Not that I'm agreeing yet."

Though Tsunade had sworn that she would be entirely respectful in her proposal, she let a hint of a glare hit the toad. "I do not wish anyone to 'tag along'. I'm aware that in the past only those who have signed the contract with the toads have been allowed to enter Myobokuzan. Also, I know there will be a bit of complicated work involved just transporting an outsider to the mountain, considering we don't have the time to let you journey on foot. The person I wish to join you and Naruto however, would have very good reason to be there, excluding Naruto's obvious benefit."

The creak of a mouth Fukasaku had lifted slightly at the right corner.

He questioned, "And I ask again, who exactly would this be?"

A tint of amber-colored pride lit her face. "Sakura Haruno, my apprentice and one of Naruto's most precious persons …that is available, that is. I would say she is the person closest to him."

"And the child's purpose there would be…?"

"Your plant life."

An amphibious eyebrow was quirked.

Undetereed, Tsunade ploughed on.

"She would able to have access to an entirely new assortment of medicinal properties, and be able to study them for possible manipulation of their rather unique elements. I remember the descriptions of Myobokuzan that Jiraiya would recount. He intrigued the medic in me a great deal, and I have always wished to have some cuttings and samples to research myself. Also, she could learn a medical jutsu or two from you toads. That is, if she is found worthy, which I know she will be. Pein needs to be defeated for us to have even a grasping chance for peace. If his abilities are as immense as you say, then I want us prepared for the casualties. Sakura happens to be one of the most promising and gifted medical ninjas I've ever seen. And she has formidable pure strength. In time, she could even surpass my level." A smile lifted her lips.

"I'm sure Jiraiya thought along the same lines concerning Naruto."

Dashed-pupils looked up at the pale moon, which was slowly fading away to reveal the creeping dawn.

"Now that is a good reason, that I give you credit for. It's completely against tradition of course, but then again I've never really cared nor had patience for such archaic things, my wife excluded…Why not? Tell the little kunoichi in the morning to pack all she'll need for a week or so. We might be there longer, but it's already gonna give me enough of a headache trying to get her to Myobokuzan without signing the contract, so I want her packing light!"

The Godaime firmly nodded, trying to hide her immense relief. "Yes, I'll inform her right away. And thank you."

Her comment was waved away with webbed digits. "Yeah, yeah. I'm only conceding because you seem so darned convinced of your own words. And, I think Little Jiraiya would agree with you, though he always was a foolish, disrespectful pervert."

Chuckling teeth peeked themselves through on a rouge mouth. "And that's how I'll always remember him."

Grunting in agreeance, Fukasaku fumbled out the window, hopping away to snatch a little more sleep before the sun came.

Slowly, Tsunade watched him take his leave, and when he was out of sight, she laid her cheek across the ledge, shielding herself from the view of the heavens.

A soft murmur drifted up. "You weren't only some lecher, even if you acted it. No, you could be so kind and understanding at times…exactly like the boy you left behind."

Her eyelids sank to seal themselves. "I just pray the girl doesn't run off this time around."

...

Simultaneously, two souls in two separate locations in Konoha felt the easing awareness of waking rouse them from their rests.

Sapphires peaked out groggily from the covers in a tiny, one room apartment.

Under rose hair, thick smoky lashes fluttered against cheekbones, placing butterfly kisses on the pearly skin.

Both turned jewel-toned eyes toward their windows. The young teens saw the preamble to the dawn. The enigmatic navy was barely, but swiftly, morphing into amethyst and indigo blooms. The ghost of a breaking yellow sun could be just alluded to.

The friends dreamily smiled, unaware.

"Reminds me of earlier…", both tenderly said.

The boy grinned himself back to dreamland. "Sakura…"

The girl sighed melodically, a dulcet song. "Naruto…"

The nighttime stole away their undisclosed caresses, keeping them safe until they were ready to be received.

...

**Second Chapter!! Thank you so much for the encouraging reviews, please keep them coming! I love feedback, who doesn't? I know there wasn't much NaruSaku time in this chapter, but trust me TONS will be coming. **

**And, to let it be known, yes i know people spell his name "Pain" or "Pein", I've seen both. I choose "Pein", just so there is no confusion with the word 'pain'.**


	3. Wake Up

A yawn strained itself as it sat up in bed. Silky pink tumbled forward demurely to drape a female face. She stretched, turning her slight curves to face the window, where a dawn was coming out to play. Indulging in a few more moments in her cozy bed, quickly she raised her fighter's awareness and made herself fully alert, as if she had been up for hours. Her orbs were no longer innocently half-lidded, but open-eyed. After all, as she had recently been reminded cruelly of again, it was never a bad idea to keep your guard up. It kept you breathing.

Sakura swung herself up and out of the coddling blankets, her feet slapping the floorboards. She supposed she could have cherished a little more time under the covers, after all the hour was still early. But today wasn't a day to give in to her cravings. Self-discipline would be essential.

Naruto was leaving.

Small shoulders shook off the thoughts feebly. _"No, THAT won't do. Besides, you know he has to go…"_ she thought.

Her restraint strangled a grimace.

"_Doesn't make me any happier. But I'll deal with it."_

Posture straighter, she stepped lightly over to the set of drawers where her clothing and ninja accessories were kept. Above it, a plain mirror hung bashfully on the wall. Reaching out her white hand to take out her vest, her eyes flitted upwards. Sakura hesitated, and then looked at her reflection.

A girl searched her eyes. No, girl was the wrong word. Woman? Sakura's mind felt awkward with the word so close to her. It held no familiarity. But she kept on staring, her image doing likewise, and woman seemed a better fit than girl. Not the best fit, but it hit the mark with more accuracy. Her next birthday would bring her to the age of sixteen. Definitely old enough in the shinobi world for a great deal.

A sigh sang out tiredly. The rosette thought she had already decided to give up her wants today, and now she was looking at her own appearance? It seemed flippantly vain.

But a sudden growl of defense rumbled from her conscience. Her voice snapped the air in near silence with a forceful whisper.

"I'm not that frail person anymore. And I can look in the mirror."

Leaning forward, emeralds gripped the looking-glass defiantly. She wanted to confirm that the girl she used to be wasn't hiding in somewhere in the enigmatic reflection.

It was the same as her first glance had revealed. More gradual curves than she would prefer, light skin, pink hair. The rose strands were smoothed with gentle fingertips. She used to keep it so long, the locks sliding past her shoulders and hugging the length of her back. Silly really. This shorter length was her preference. It suited her…

A flap screeched the air, and on instinct, she snatched up her shruiken lying just in front of her and spun around, crouched in a defensive position towards her window. What she encountered was a little far off from an assassin. On the floor beneath her window lay a rolled up message with the hokage seal, and she could just pick out a bird soaring off into the fragmented clouds, wings teasing pale blue. A hint of embarrassment rolled upon her, but she shook it off. Better safe than sorry.

Slowly she trailed away from the mirror. Maybe another day she would ponder the definition of who she was. For now, Lady Tsunade apparently had news for her. Sakura bent her knees and lifted the message off the floor; already unraveling it from its cylinder shape, she immediately rose, reading its contents.

_Sakura_

_Report to my office immediately. Get here as fast as you can. I meant to send this even earlier. I have to brief you on a mission you'll be on. _

Interest reverberated in her head. Her limbs danced about as she rapidly got dressed. As fast as she could? The green-eyed ninja never took long to get to the Hokage Tower at all. For the Godaime to order her to waste no time at all meant this mission was urgent. Either the situation was looking unpleasant, or they would leave as soon as possible. She scowled when she couldn't find one of her gloves, flexing her naked ivory fingers.

"I'll have to go without I guess."

Nimbly, she climbed out the window, bracing her feet on the ledge. For a brief second though, she paused, half her body peaking outside her house, her single gloved hand softly seizing onto the window frame.

"_Where will I be going?" _she asked her village.

Question unanswered, her feet skimmed the rooftops as she rushed past with her thoughts trailing along.

...

A fist twitched irritably, pounding the desk on which it sat, the quake making papers and documents rain down on the floor.

"Damn," Grumbled the fifth. "Should've sent for her sooner. Why'd I let myself fall asleep?" Tsunade resented her perceived weakness. Uncoiling her clenched hand, she felt like her nerves were cautiously stretching. She could almost hear them snap.

The voluptuous women stroked the cherry blossom's lost glove to soothe her frenzied mind. The old leather felt creamy against the pads of her fingertips.

"Though I guess worrying the whole night through would make me susceptible to napping." Her words paused in thought.

"Especially now that it should work out…will work out."

A knock rapped firmly on the outside of the door.

"Come in, Sakura." Her sensitive hope had arrived.

Like a fawn, the ivory gem crossed the room on slender stilts.

"Lady Tsunade?" The question slipped out, her stance like she was ready to run at a moment's notice.

"You can sit down, Sakura. You won't be leaving until this evening, at best."

Her teacher's invitation to relax floated aimlessly to the rosette. _"So, important, not immediate…"_ The teen had no patience for her mind's hazy, half-formed guessing.

Gracefully, Sakura sat upon the chair in front of the Godaime's desk. Then she turned her gaze onto her master, the jade pools spilling over with curiosity, until it dripped off the edges.

The teacher smiled laxly at the student. "Well, I won't make you wait any longer and I'll get straight to the point. You will be leaving to study the botany of a far-off secluded area." Pink eyebrows curved up into creased frowns.

Tsunade chuckled, continuing. "The plant-life there is vastly different from anything you have been in contact with thus far, and it would most likely generate new information for me as well. We can always improve our medical techniques. Adding these foreign plants' properties to our repertoire will be a great asset to gain. Also, I want you to gain the trust of the local inhabitants, so that they may entrust you with learning some of their medical jutsu." The hokage's lips shrunk the smile, but it stayed just as softhearted.

"But as long as you show them yourself, just as you are, it should work itself out. They are apparently extremely difficult to master, and only someone who was a truly gifted medic could handle these techniques."

That hidden pride was caught by the younger one, and her brow relaxed smoothly, her eyes smiling. Her tone supple, she asked, "Who am I going with?" She stopped, and looked down, looking up again with speculation hanging off her porcelain skin. Distant land with strange plant-life…she felt like something lurked in the back of her mind, as if she already knew where she was going. Sakura wanted to pull that subconscious thought close.

"And WHERE exactly am I going, Tsunade-sensei?'

Smile morphed to grin, and something dangerously close to smugness crawled onto the amber-eyed woman's features. "You, Sakura Haruno, will be going to Myobokuzan. And your companions will be Naruto Uzumaki and Fukasaku, the Sage Toad." Her eyes eagerly sought her reaction, waiting.

A piercing quiet misted swiftly over the room. Just as abruptly though, a pure voice pushed aside the curtains of the silence.

'What?' Disbelieving, not questioning.

"I'm…going with Naruto?' Emeralds were shocked, wide-eyed and not daring to believe.

The Legendary Sucker looked warmly upon her apprentice. Her heart clenched, and she desperately hoped this would work out. "Yes. You will not be going there just to look at plants and train. I…I have decided that Naruto should have someone with him. Being alone, I don't think it would be..." She struggled for the word, and then just satisfied herself with one that wasn't nearly strong enough. "Right. It wouldn't be right."

Her voice gasped out in breathy lilt. "Why? You don't think that, that the Kyuubi would try to hurt him again do you? Is that what this sage training will do to him, is that the cost?" Horror squeezed her slim throat as she remembered that mission that flooded her mind with flawless clarity.

A blonde boy, a sweet, gentle man had stood across that bridge from the twisted medic. Kabuto. The gray-haired sadist had taunted Naruto, known exactly how to make him get just a little too angry…enough to let_ it_ gain an opportunity. His body had lit up with bubbling red chakra and his teeth had lengthened, until he was single-minded black, ruby- tinted entity. The memory almost joyfully choked her to the point of suffocation as a single scene blocked all her other senses. Blindness submissively obscured all else.

Soft cerulean eyes that were always opened in a safe embrace. Then, crimson bleeding into the iris, infecting it a malicious scarlet, with a slit pupil. The window to his heart now saturated with inhumane rage that seemed to lightheartedly slash its prey. Mauling the most precious part of her closest friend. His soul. A stranger's slaughtering eyes filled her.

"Sakura!"

The rose-haired teen looked up quickly. Tsunade's examining stare was trying to diagnose her now, wondering what had just occurred, though only a couple seconds had passed. A few, terrifying moments. Gingerly, the blossom rubbed her throat. "I'm going, I won't leave his side. I, I won't let it take him again!"

Somehow, Tsunade put it together, realizing the trigger her words had been. "Sakura, that's not why I'm asking you to go. I'm not worried about the Kyuubi taking him…" No tears were in her topaz depths, but they seemed to be sobbing anyway. "I'm worried about something else stealing him away."

The chuunin's lithe body relaxed when she heard that, sliding slightly in her seat. Her blood flowed again. _"No Kyuubi. But then what? Akatsuki?"_ Yet, that wasn't it. No, that wasn't it at all she knew.

"So, I get to go with him? Stay with him?" Weightless as a breeze, Sakura's heart drifted in easy arcs.

"Yes," Lady Tsunade answered with a strange tone. Streaked with joy, but with almost a shade of regret. Like she wished she could have had the same chance… "I believe only you can help him with this. I think you'll soon realize what I mean."

Delighted beyond reason because of this new, strange mission, Sakura couldn't knock back a twinge of apprehension. Driving it out of her vocal cords, she compelled herself to ask, "But, Tsunade-sensei, am I really the best choice?" Her chest was constrained, like tightly bound wrappings. She ignored it, demanding her voice to speak.

'"I won't weaken him. I want to help him more than anything. To be there for him. But if there is somebody who can do a better job of whatever it is you want me to do…" She bit rose petal lips, trying to find some outlet to deal with the pain of what she had to say. "Then please, let that person go. Let them aid him. He deserves that much."

The fifth sat there in shock before she managed to compose herself, at least outwardly. How did such bright hued open eyes remain so blind? This strong girl was fighting to be worthy of her precious person. How did she not see that she had won that battle so long ago? Tsunade spoke.

"…Sakura, trust me, even if you won't believe me just yet. You are the _only _choice."

With that being said, Sakura's eyes seemed to become even more vivid. There were alive, reviling in her determination. "Yes, Hokage. I won't let him down."

"I'm already aware that you won't." On exhibition, a smirk was unveiled. "Now, why don't you go and give a wake-up call to Naruto? I'm sure he's still sleeping, resting up for the journey. But I think he'd rather know the news you'll bring him."

The cream and roses face glowed with her new grin. "I'm on it." And with that being said, she flung herself out the window like only a ninja could, already blurring out against the blue horizon.

With lingering grace, Tsunade's face welcomed the sun's rays. She made one simple request, a lonely word slipping out. "Please." The sun shone brighter.

...

Lily feet practically skipped up the stairs to Naruto's apartment. Even the drab and bleak atmosphere of the building where her best friend lived couldn't dissipate the bubbling joy in her stomach. The creaking stairs seemed to share her enthusiasm, sounding more cheerful than usual.

Soon enough, she was in front of Naruto's door, worn from many scrubbings. She frowned for just half- a-second. _"I wonder why he always cleans it so much…"_ She tapped her white knuckles against the door, just to make sure he was still deep in slumber. When no response came, she pushed open the door, finding it unlocked. _"He really needs to be more careful."_ At the moment though, she thanked him for his unique combination of density and confidence.

Crossing through the doorframe, she advanced into the room with footsteps as delicate as butterfly wings. Automatically her head turned to where she knew the bed was located in the single room apartment. A shock of blonde spikes caught her jade eyes. Sakura glided over.

Naruto lay on his side, facing her. A sheet covered his body, displaying only the tops of his bare shoulders and his sturdy collarbone, the necklace Tsunade gave him years ago settled into the hollow of his throat.. His forehead swathed drowsily with golden locks and those eyes she always welcomed were heavily shut. Tanned skin seemed to soak in the beams of day wafting into the room, drawing them toward him.

The girl felt like she was tenderly melting from his warmth. Even in sleep his face seemed filled with compassion, his mouth innocently grinning even while he was unaware of the world around him.

Tentatively, her pale form bent over the diminutive bed barely containing her swiftly growing friend. Caringly, the flower skimmed her blooming voice over his dreaming thoughts. A smile parted her petals.

"Wake up, Naruto."

**Third chapter! So sorry it took so long to get this up. It actually should've been donel ast weekend, but that was my school's homecoming and...well, let's just say after parties make me like the living dead the next day lol. **

**Relating to the story, I made some edits to the first chapter. Someone pointed out to me that I left out suffixes, so I have added some back as I felt was needed. **

**Please review! I've gotten plenty of alerts, and even favs, but I wish to know what you all are really thinking! **


	4. Smiling Voices

**Naruto. is not. mine. :(**

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The first thing Naruto saw before his slumber broke was the smell. Sketching comforting images across his dormant lids with its scent, it vividly charmed his senses. He could see swaying spring grass, a breeze twining with the verdant blades. Barely, he could pick out a sun-kissed warmth that underlined the aroma, giving it an ardent trace. In a distinctively familiar way, it felt welcoming.

He begged the perfume to seep into his skin.

The blonde teen heard a flowing voice from the source of the intoxication. Willingly, he let it steal him from his dreams.

"_Wake Up, Naruto."_

His body wished for nothing more than to obey. Slits of cerulean languidly appeared.

A tiny white button of a nose greeted the ninja first thing. His mind pleasantly rumbled, still caught in the throws of sleep. _"What a cute nose..."_ Unfocused, he squinted his eyes shut, rubbing at them, attempting to restore his vision. Bleary fists drooped down to let sapphires take their fill.

Joining the ivory nose was an equally light face, brought to life by sparkling eyes. "Morning, Naruto. I got you up quicker than I expected. Would've thought that someone as thickheaded as you would've been difficult to wake."

Having just woken, his drowsiness barricaded the surprise of seeing his medic, who had now placed herself at the edge of his bed, rose head twisted toward him as she peered over a tilted shoulder. The bliss engulfed him for a moment as he made out the half-smirk where the words slid over from. _"What a smiling voice."_

And then his brain politely informed him that his most precious flower happened to be sitting on his ragged covers, looking strangely at him.

Eyelids fluttered like fledgling blue jays. "Whaa…What?"

"_Oh, well-spoken,"_ the blue-eyed boy self criticized a moment later. That well-versed teenage discomfort chose to lash at his persona. Its ridicule helpfully howled at him.

Sakura stifled the giggle wavering undecidedly in her throat, but nevertheless, her smile broadened. Through jade irises, the porcelain ninja watched as Naruto shook his head, almost seeing his lethargy droop to rest against the floorboards.

Weariness gradually dwindling, Naruto tried speaking again. "Sakura-chan, what…what are you doing here?"

A mischievous spark brightened among her features. "Well, there are plenty of reasons for that… but, naming one I guess, would be to make sure you packed more than instant ramen for the journey. I can't even fathom how you grew at all with YOUR diet. Would some non-sodium laced vegetables hurt?"

He couldn't, and didn't want to, restrain a grumble reaching out to her.

"Maybe." His voice a drowsy mutter almost lost as he swiped again at his eyes.

Laughter soft as a lullaby ran over to curve against his face. The melody coaxed Naruto's eyes to open fully, and he orphaned his previous anxiety on the ground. An upturned arc of a mouth ignited his face.

"Well." A groaning yawn interrupted. "Guess I gotta get up now." Smirking widely, he added, "Unless you'll let me go back to bed?"

"Hmm, not unless you can sleep through a broken jaw, Naruto." Ivory dimples showed themselves with their banter.

Throwing itself back, a fair head erupted with the sound of uncontainable smiles. Still laughing, he said "That's alright." Angling his countenance so he appeared to be discovering something just beyond her, his voice's tenor exposed bursts of affection. "I think I'd prefer to be awake than dreaming now anyway." Blue bended back to green with a peaceful expression.

Sun-stained fingers lifted the worn covers off, and Naruto practically bounded out of the bed, striding toward his kitchen area.

Playfully surprised, the vibrantly hued girl called out to his back. "Energetic much? Just a few moments ago it looked like I was going to have to drag you out of bed myself."

Flaxen hair paused, and turned around to give Sakura a glimpse of the profile of an amused face while he answered. A light chuckle danced with his reply. "Once I could actually keep my eyes from shutting long enough, I decided the day was just too good to miss out on." His mirth replayed, but altered this time, as if it the smallest bit had been lost. "Never lose the day if you're lucky enough to see it, right?" Back of his head facing her now, he swung a kettle onto the counter. "Tea?"

A fierce heart thudded suddenly in her chest, but her face became all the more tender for it. "You're so effortless, you know? Only you…Yes, tea would be great. I could use something soothing."

Sleek white legs boosted themselves off the bed and stretched. "I'll help; I know where you keep the tea." Crossing over to his side in seconds because of the oh so cozy size of the apartment, Sakura gathered the heady leaves and two mugs as well. Quiet breached, neither saying a word while they worked. Deft pale arms arranged the tea soon to be scalded by boiling water. As the kunoichi's ears lingered for the kettle's tell-tale cry, the self-declared future Hokage turned his gaze to ensnare her own.

Inadvertently, she noted that her greatest friend had grown again. Her physician trained eyes detected the slight increase in height. To hang her sight upon his open face, she had to arch her silky neck a degree more. _"Soon he might be quite tall."_ For whatever reason, the thought colored her with a small amount of pride. _"That's weird."_ Then the cherry blossom ignored it, for azure eyes called her attention, and she responded in turn with rapt interest.

"You know, while it's nice to think so, I know you didn't come to see me just to ensure I eat healthily. What's up, Sakura-chan?" Golden fingers twitched in a restrained fashion on the counter, across from where her own hand rested languidly. Like they longed to grip _something _but it was out their grasp. Clipped pieces of the sky asked for her answer.

Brief annoyance got the best of her for just a moment, and she had to object. "Why couldn't it be about that? I can worry about you." Having said her piece, stillness infected her voice. Suddenly, she felt a shard of worry trace her veins.

"_What if he doesn't want me there… he could get worried I'll mess up his training or, or… that I'll stand in his way somehow. Or maybe he'll just look at me and…" _Then not knowing why, she glanced to the side, dragging her eyes over the image that called to her.

A marble-like elegant hand, with what seemed like its polar opposite arranged ironically like her mirror image; tanned, calloused, and significant enough to swallow her own in one enveloping clutch. They were close enough that the rosette could faintly feel heat emanating from the pulsing vitality that rushed inside him. Raising cautious lashes, Sakura saw him waiting for her. Always so patiently waiting.

Her previous thoughts broke apart._ "We're alike now…I'm different from then. He wouldn't abandon me." _Memories unwrapped themselves. _"Hell, even if I was still a brat he wouldn't." _With a composed smile, her serene lips released.

"You're right…Naruto." Emerald orbs peaked up at him. "Rememeber yesterday? On the bridge? And I said, we both talked about, how we were going to miss each other." Shying away for an instant, she slipped a lock of hair behind her ear. "What would you say if…?" Green radiated irrepressibly and the boy felt like her eyes were tinted glass, with the moon imploring to shine through.

"If we didn't have to?" Colliding into him, her questioning words raided the fissures he had struggled to supress. The shock scraped his bones.

"Didn't have to?' His voice was in disbelief, but humming with a happiness he didn't want to let loose. Not yet. Not until he made sure.

The blossom swallowed hard, trying to restrain her words from shouting. "Yes. See, Tsunade-sensei wants me to go to Myobukuzan to gather plants, and maybe even learn some medical techniques. While you're training, I'll be studying as well. I'll be able to bring a lot back to the village after my time there…with you. She wants me to go with you."

A faltering moment caught her around her stomach, and sneered.

No, she had planned this. Calculated out, right now she was supposed to declare that Tsunade was sending her because that sturdy and unwavering rock of a Godaime was scared, so terrified for Naruto that the feeling had drowned Sakura. That even though the cherry blossom didn't know what she could hope to do, she was going to do her damndest to be of use to him, to save _him_. To save herself.

But gods, why did her mouth hurt as the words came up silent? So awfully, she wished to let the torrent free, to untie every restriction she had attempted to place on herself. Every thought Sakura had writhed within her, and she ached to give them all up to his warmth. But something warned her, like a katana's edge pressed to her fragile blue veins, not to. The feeling cautioned her with the taste of raw steel on her tongue.

She settled for searching his face, and allowing her eyes to be held by Naruto.

Time was ticking. The seconds cut her ears. She had to ask.

"What do you think?"

Spanning far, blue widened. His astonishment, first at her news, and now at her, flinched.

"What do I think?" Euphoria seemed to pour from his emerging smile, and she could only just realize that he was moving at his top speed towards her when her body felt abruptly warm. Arms pinned her sides as she was swept quite literally, but off so much more than, her feet. Her dainty sandals hovered above rough bare feet. The man's hold wept safety.

Naruto spun her around, still drunk on his luck. "Sakura! Nothing could be, I mean now everything is just, it's perfect! I'm…!" But hesistation forced itself onto his shoulders, and slowly, carefully, he set her down. Slackening his embrace, he grazed the sides of her arms instead of gripping her waist. His eyes weren't embaressed but dissapointed. Like he had forgotten a basic rule. Overwhelming that though, was a genuine joy.

"I don't deserve this, but I kinda don't care. Right now, this is better than anything. Better than dreaming, better than ramen, hell, WAY better than that. Wow, that was lame. Wish I could come up with something better than that, I mean you're always better than ramen. But I can't think, everything is too good, and I just…" His beam left the rest of his sentence trailing off. The sun exclaimed.

"This is going to be the best mission ever! When we get back, we're going to be stronger than ever! No one will able to hurt Konoha with us around!" Browned hands drifted down.

"Hey, tell me more about what you're going to be learning on the mountain. I want to know how great you're gonna be."

Tea steadily turning ice-cold, it lay forgotten as they sat upon the worn futon, Sakura with her feet tucked underneath her legs, and Naruto with his own criss-crossed over one another in a sprawl. The pink girl went on about the type of plants she wanted to find, how she planned to use them, and their benefits to the village. The "hyperactive" ninja sat silently through it, seemingly storing away every bit of information that fell from her lips. Then, together, they tried to guess what sort of skills she could be learning from the toads, based on her friend's knowledge.

The morning passed by as they talked and laughed, and every so often one or both would stop because the outflow of grins just wouldn't end.

And nothing else mattered.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

A wrinkled mass of years past sat on the Hokage's desk.

"Well." Amber punctured past her beauty. "Did you manage to find a way to send Sakura to the mountain with you and Naruto? Remember, we don't have time."

Warts softened. Her distress made him want to ease the child of her worries. Still, he answered roughly.

"I know that. And I've found a fitting solution for the lil' ones. But, it's risky." Snow tufts of hair shook. "Are you positive that these tadpoles are as close as you claim? Don't even exaggerate one bit, now."

Limp hair framing near her eyes, she engraved grim pupils into him. The tone she gave him was surrendering in its hurt.

"I'm sure that they would do anything, _anything _for the other. Their bond is tightly woven, and I don't think anyone could pry the strands apart." Then she rethought her statement.

"Short of death, that is."

Once this sore declaration was unveiled, the toad seemed satisfied, but not at all happy.

"Good." A long tongue stole a sip of sake from the glass by his side.

"Because those are the requirements for what I have planned."

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**Wow, my first cliffhanger! I hope I set it up well...**

**And, this chapter was delayed for many, many frustrating reasons, but, now here it is!**

**Any reviews, feedback, and critisism on the story is, as always, greatly welcomed**

**Btw, anyone know of a good beta reader?**

**edit: aaaahhhh made a few small changes, just in a bit of the wording and an error or two. This is why I need a beta.**


	5. Conviction

**AHHHH, this is much later than I planned. But here(a week late!) is the latest chapter. I hope you all enjoy, and please review.**

**I do not own Naruto, I will never own Naruto, he will never be mine. Don't remind me.**

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_In_

_Out_

_In_

_Out_

_Breathe in_

_Breathe out_

_Breathe In_

_Breathe-okay screw this. Where the hell is that toad? _

As twilight crouched upon the village, bringing the promise of deep night, these were how the thoughts drifted within a golden-headed ninja.

Currently, two teens now exasperatingly waited at the scene of their encounter just the evening before. The archaic bridge seemed more refreshed than usual, like the rainfall had been just the thing it needed to put a spring into its boards. An orange setting sun made the sky just as vivid as it had the previous day. In contrast to the serenity that pervaded, the boy that was glaring into the distance looked ready to scream apart the tranquil sky.

A growl slipped past his canines. Annoyance built up like a slanting tower in the ninja each fading second. _How long have we been waiting? _Irritably, he flexed his hands, stretching the muscles_. _And to think, he had been so thrilled earlier. His mind drew itself to just hours before.

After he and Sakura had talked themselves into near exhaustion, Naruto had somehow managed to pull forth some of his endless energy. Blue-eyed eagerness would have practically dragged the rosette to Tsunade's office, (that is, if he avoided a certain slight girl's furious blows) if it had not been for the bird that had descended onto his kitchen table at that moment.

It had held a note from none other than the Godaime herself. Carefully unfurling it, Sakura had read it aloud.

"_Naruto and Sakura, I know the two of you must be together right now, so that's why I'm not wasting time writing another letter. Be at the Bridge at four P.M. sharp. You'll leave then. Fukasaku reminds me to tell you to pack light and don't be 'foolish'. I'll be there to see you off."_

Setting the paper down, a confused twist had prevailed over Sakura's features. A question rumpled her brow.

"Hey, what's with that look?" Naruto had asked. He hadn't really noticed anything out of the ordinary with the note, but of course, Sakura-chan tended to be more insightful than he. This silent statement had proved itself as she locked him into his seat with her considering gaze.

"Don't you think it's strange that Tsunade-sensei is going to meet us there? If she wanted to see us, why not just have us come to the Hokage Tower before we left?"

Biting her lower lip, distracting him as the early noon sun had made streaks across her face, she had finished, "It just makes me curious…"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Blinking, he brought himself back to the present, wondering as well. Sakura-chan had a point; it was just…off. Still, he hadn't really questioned it at first, considering he was more than overjoyed at the overwhelming prospect of his new traveling companion. But now, as they lingered, their superiors almost three hours late, he couldn't shake a lurking dimness to the whole situation. The uncertainty thickly coating him, he forced his voice out of the murk to make a pointless comment.

"They're almost as bad as Kakashi-sensei! How long are we supposed to stand here?"

"Naruto." Exasperation trickled from a pink bow of a mouth. "We were ordered to stay here, so, we're going to stay put." But, however much Sakura tried to restrain herself, she couldn't hold off a bite of her own. "God, I hope they have an excuse."

"Hn."

With shared frustration, they settled back into their wait, hungering to just leave the village already so they could be on their way.

At first, they kept their usual comfortable distance, waiting against the railing side by side. But, as stars began to waver and cloud the midnight blanket above, the two teens shoulders tripped and fell in their weariness, coming together to prop the other up. By the time the click of a pair of heels came in their direction, Sakura's creamy shoulder was digging into Naruto's forearm.

The sudden sound cracked the membrane of still that had been imposed. A flower straightened its petals and stood up, leisurely pulling away from Naruto, leaving both their sides chilled. Two pairs of bright eyes didn't have to wait much longer, for the next few moments revealed their village's leader crossing the worn planks.

Riding on her shoulder was Fukasaku, somehow appearing even more tattered than he had been at their first meeting. The skin around the corners of his bulged eyes sagged in a dismal fashion, and he imparted the appearance of someone on the verge of collapse. No wonder he stole a ride with the Godaime.

Still, as their elders stood before them, Naruto couldn't help but sense that a glint of begrudging accomplishment was in the old toad's eye.

"Naruto. Sakura." Tsunade spoke. "I'm sorry we're late. We were debating about some...problems."

The rosette's concern was low in her response. "Problems? What's wrong, Tsunade-sensei?"

A cross croak interrupted. "I'll tell you what the problem is, missy. Getting you to the mountain, that's what!"

The snap of his words battered her skin, and she couldn't help but feel herself recoil.

Concern converting into anger, Naruto practically growled back a retort, with the tip of one of his canines slicing the inside of his cheek as he chewed out the sage.

"Hey, what do you mean Sakura's at fault? You ancient bastard, leave her alone!"

A shocked blossom could only gape up at her friend, but Naruto didn't notice. All he was aware of was the decrepit amphibian in front of him and the rusty blood that stained his teeth from the now healed cut.

The blonde boy didn't know what he had expected. All he knew was, it definitely wasn't to hear hoarse laughter practically slapping him in the face. He stared at Fukasaku, who now had a tear of a smile.

"Well, you're a disrespectable young' in, aren't you? I ought to punish you for such language, but, I suppose your reaction is enough to confirm what Tsunade said."

Then he added, under his breath, "At least that increases the chance of success."

It was all the number one unpredictable ninja could do to keep from landing hard on his backside from the shock. What the hell was going on here? Chance of success? What in the world was the sage talking about? Looking over to his side, he found emerald eyes boring into his expression, in as much a state of inquiry as he. Well, at least someone as smart as Sakura-chan was alongside him in the dark.

Attempting to be polite, the sapphire-eyed teen asked, "Old lady, what's he talking about?"

With a groan secreting from the rosette's lips, it felt like Sakura was pressing her pale fingernails into his skin. "_Great, that came out__** perfectly**_," she thought.

A twitch of annoyance flashing, but for the most part composed, the fifth Hokage answered Naruto's eloquent question.

"What Fukasaku is speaking of Naruto, is the fact that it has been extremely difficult coming up with a way to get Sakura to Myobokuzan safely. Unlike you, who has a tie because of your contract, Sakura has no such bond, so there is no way to instantaneously transport her. That's why we also happen to be so late, which I can tell annoyed you two to no end." The pair in question shared a sheepish look that felt shoved into their abdomens.

"But it's no matter, because luckily for you," but yet her face didn't seem overtly pleased, "We have fine-tuned the idea that Fukasaku thought of this morning. It was one of the only possible solutions."

Her words were thin and brittle, like she was masking something more behind them. But neither the boy, nor the girl, could guess what it was.

Sakura was the first to continue the vein of conversation, her tone tender and strong at the same time. Naruto paused on that thought for a moment. She was the only girl he had ever met with a voice like that. The smile sifting from his lips couldn't have been kept in check even if he had wanted to try. His attention trailed back onto that sound he slipped away into his heart, but never locked up.

"Tsunade-sensei...what exactly is this solution? What do you and Fukasaku-sama have in mind?", posed green doe eyes.

The Godaime's head veered until her tawny gaze met the bulged one of the toad's, and through some silent communication, Tsunade turned back to explain.

"Naruto can be called to the mountain because of his contract with the toads, his blood bond with them. There are two existing choices, one being that you could sign the toad contract yourself."

"I'll do it." The sudden forceful sentence calmly coming from his teammate made Naruto's eyes stretch wide.

Amber irises flowed with a pain painted smile. "I know you would Sakura, but we are both aware that you shouldn't rush into such a commitment. You need to find the right summon for yourself. Besides, I'm not sure the great toads would take your oath under such circumstances, they tend to be...discerning. No, I'm afraid that isn't an option."

Eyes directed towards her sandals, the girl was like pure ivory under the moon's caress. And she asked a question with such emotion that it nearly made the fortified fortress that was the Hokage fall to her knees. "Then what can I do?"

Tsunade was trying to gather her words when Fukasaku beat her to the punch.

"Sakura. You will need to bond yourself and your chakra to Naruto in such a way that it will only require his own contract to the toads to pull you with us."

A cloud moved across the silvery source of nighttime light and snuffed out its glow. Naruto watched as the radiance of Sakura's skin turned bleak as the moonbeams faded. And fear, moist, fresh fear stroked his heart, encouraging his immortal nightmare.

_**"Yes."**_

_**  
**_The almost lustful purr that said this made his ears want to bleed

"No." For the second time that night under the velvet air, Sakura could only look up at Naruto.

"What?" She had no trouble finding her voice this time around. "What do you mean _no_, Naruto?"

"I mean I'm not going to let this happen." He seemed to force his azure eyes to stay away from her form. Instead, he sternly stared Tsunade down. "There has to be another way. There has got to be other options. And if there's not..." He couldn't smother the falter in his words, but recovered as quickly as possible.

"Then I don't want Sakura to come along."

Before she was upset. Now she was furious, and hurt. Damn, the hurt pulled at her skin.

"Don't want me?" Her voice was agonizingly soft, and Naruto could feel his blood seeping and pooling together by his feet from it.

"Sakura-chan, that's not what I meant!"

"Oh, just shove your Sakura-chan off to somebody else, Naruto-_kun." _The suffix was meant to be mocking, but it only came off as unconvincing.

His gold hair dull without the moonlight, he could only try to pull together an explanation. "It's, I, I can't let you do this."

"Why? If we do this, then I can go with you! You said it's what you wanted." While it had first been Naruto avoiding the girl's gaze, Sakura couldn't bring herself to see those honest eyes. She whispered, "Why won't you?"

"Because I won't destroy you dammit!" Satin locks whipped up and out of the way, so she could catch his face, to see if he actually believed he was speaking the truth. He did. And he wasn't done yet.

"Fukasaku said you would have to bond yourself and your chakra to _me_. That includes all of me and my own chakra. Tell me, can't you think of any problem with that situation?"

Far-off somewhere, she knew what he was talking about, but her fingers just couldn't seem to catch the realization. She curved away and her begging eyes searched Tsunade's and Fukasaku's countenance; without a doubt, she could tell that they knew of what her closest friend spoke of. Their knowledge taunted her callously, and she despised the weak acceptance written on their faces.

How could he think he would destroy her? Naruto, pure, warm, full of light Naruto wasn't capable of hurting anyone-well, at least not anyone he considered a friend. It was unthinkable to Sakura that he could view himself as corrupt, as evil, as a monster-

_Oh._

_Oh no._

_Oh, Naruto._

Before she could stop herself, she was speaking fast, too fast, and her whispers sounded more like shouts to the boy.

"Is this about the Kyuubi?" In the silky shadows, her eyes were vaster than he'd ever seen them, her pupils huge, leaving only a ring of jade at the edges. Her voice as dim as the sky above, she spoke more steadily.

"Is that why you won't go through with the bonding? Because...you think the nine-tailed fox will do something to me if we do? Harm me?"

"Of course that's why Sakura!" He turned around, only to spin back with his hands tangled in his hair in unbearable pain that wanted to rip him finely open. "The Kyuubi is trapped in me and he's never going to leave! I have access to his thoughts, chakra, powers- he's a part of me. And I won't have you exposed to that! Just by losing control and letting him lose, I could kill you! Who knows what the bastard could do if I let your soul get close to him? He could try to sabotage your mind, maybe hurt you physically, mentally; I mean he's a demon for Kami's sake! He could do any sick thing he wanted before any of us realized!"

Hands falling limp to his sides, he could only gasp, "Before I could realize."

Sakura didn't realize that she been holding her breath, and she sucked desperately at the air. But she couldn't take her eyes away from Naruto's. They looked like blue eggshells, thin and ready to crack. Alabaster throat trembling, her head crept over her shoulder, noting how silent Tsunade and Fukasaku had been the whole time. And again, she saw it clearly. Their thoughts had wandered down the same hopeless path as her precious friend. So that explained their dejected attitude. That explained their reluctance for the plan.

She wanted to slap the pair of them, and taste the satisfied sting in her palm.

"That won't happen." Eyes wrenching Naruto's, she tried to make the conviction in her voice undeniable. "He's not a part of you. You're completely separate from the nine-tails."

Her calm, and gentle voice made him hope, and that disturbed Naruto.

"So what if you use his chakra? That creature should give you something in return for all that you've suffered!" Closing her eyes briefly, the tender inflection returned.

"You are purely Naruto, and no one else. I'd be bonding myself to you and no one else. I'm sure I could tell the difference between the fox's presence and your own if he tried to intrude."

And then, Naruto felt a great choking, drowning fall as his cherry blossom reached out and loosely wound her petal fingers through his own, and said,

"And I know you could stop him. I know."

Pale against tan wavered across his vision, and he could hardly control his own sight. Her smile was beatific, and he hated his weakness.

"Okay. I'll try it. But only because it will make you sad if we don't." _And because I'm selfish, he was quick to remind himself._

A croaky cough interrupted them.

"Well," the toad began, "If I may input, while I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried, I think you two can do this. The bonding I'll perform requires there to be extreme devotion to the other person. If the care between the two persons involved is not powerful enough, then the necessary ties simply do not form." He spoke gravely, but conviction underlied it.

"I think I see that necessary element in you both. And I do not use my words lightly, little ones."

His subtle encouragement seemed to drag away some of the weight pulling them down, and Naruto and Sakura could finally notice the heat from their contact.

Then their leader stepped toward them. "Now that you are both aware, we must move to perform the ceremony."

And still holding hands, Naruto and Sakura gave a quiet glance to one another, before Sakura spoke for them both. "Move to where?"

The smallest upturn of crimson appeared on the Godaime's face.

"To the riverbank."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**_Well, it's finally here! I do apologize, I'm afraid my computer was completely USELESS for almost an entire week! But to make up for it, since this was supposed to be done much sooner, this is the longest chapter yet! OVER 3,000 words! I know that's pretty weak compared to the chapters some people here upload, but I can't help it; I just don't do enormous chapters. But thank you everyone for all the reviews and support!_**


	6. Bond

**It has been FOREVER, but finally, here is the next chapter! Longest one yet!**

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The grass was smothered under their feet as they walked. It bended to their will, the green blades knowing of their intentions.

Walking quickly, they didn't waste any of the light offered by the moon. Four heart-beats called out to the sky. One slow, steady, and old. Another strong as a gemstone, but hesitant. And two that were identical in every way: thundering clearly, overwhelmingly young, and alive, perfectly alive.

They bumped into the river's edge, and the pause that followed was like a pillow-muffled scream.

A tall blonde woman turned to the two children of the group, whose hands were crushing one another's.

"Now I suppose Fukasaku shall explain," Tsunade said to Naruto and Sakura.

At that cue, the toad sage leapt off the Godaime's shoulder where he had been resting the entire evening, and hopped until his round eyes hovered over the water. Then, turning around, he called out, "You young'ins coming or not?"

Naruto and Sakura turned to catch the other's expression. And finding what they had searched for, they walked, fingers tangled like twigs in a nest. They arrived at Fukasaku's side, while Tsunade stayed back with something resembling winter fading into spring lining the amber edge in her eyes.

Reaching their destination and not being able to reign himself in much longer, Naruto asked the obvious question. "So, what now?"

The old creature's eyes closed. He left them in silence for a moment, before his lids flicked up again, and he responded, looking up at the boy and girl.

"Well, first off, you two need to get into the water."

"What?" Naruto was indignant. "It'll be freezing!"

Sakura couldn't help but smirk. "Oh, so _now _you're uncomfortable with the idea of the cold. Just yesterday, you were saying it was nothing for the future hokage."

A pout slipped into the blonde's voice. "That was rain, this is an entire river!" He turned to Fukasaku. "How far in deep? And just in the hell why?"

Chuckling, the toad took a moment to enjoy seeing such youth, and the stubbornness that came along with it. With nostalgia filling him, he poured his sight over the river's surface before he explained. "You can't just get your toes wet, if that's what you mean. You'll be soaked. Get over it. As to the why, little ones…

I explained a bit of why this bond is different before. This bonding doesn't involve a single seal. Nor does it require jutsu of any kind. Seals can powerful, kami knows it, as can jutsu, but for this, it requires something more. When we summoning creatures first tried to develop this bond, it was meant to form an ultimate protection of sorts. To tie beings together, yet still be individual. To not be codependent, but to be able to use their full potential to assist one another. We at first tried using a combination of both sealing and jutsu, which in theory, was guaranteed to work." A pause crept past for just a moment.

"But it didn't; we were fools. Everyone it was tried on, the couple either didn't succeed, or ended up…not as themselves anymore. Results particularly failed between those who weren't close to begin with, who had just been picked for their abilities. Our greatest experts couldn't discover the source of the problem. The whole endeavor was going to be dropped as a failure, but something we could never have thought possible happened.

You see, two young foxes were gaining notice in the summoning world."

Naruto made a small noise, and Fukasaku stopped again. "Oh yes, Naruto, there used to be fox summons. Used to be. But that's a story for another time."

Sakura squeezed his hand harder.

The toad continued. "Anyway, both had the potential for immense power. They also happened to be entirely devoted to one another. The female was named Asaka and the male, Isamu.

They had been approached to participate in the bonding trials, but they had no interest. They already worked excellently together in battle, and they certainly didn't need to increase their strength. The risks involved seemed too uncertain.

But, one day, with a group of other warriors, they had to defend territory from some insurgent snake summons. It turned into a greater battle than anyone had anticipated. Everyone, save for Asaka and Isamu, died. And Isamu was injured, horribly.

Asaka was barely lucid. She was badly hurt herself, but Isamu was fighting off death. And the thought of him leaving her was painful. So clearly painful that she snapped out of her panic, and tried to come up with any way to save her love. But she could tell Isamu would die within minutes. Healers were too far away for them to reach in time, especially in their combined state. There was no way to save him. But she was determined. Even if it was pointless, she wouldn't give up. She pulled him to a stream nearby, in order to clean his wounds. They were filled with poison, but not bleeding, so Asaka just dragged him into the water with herself, in an attempt to flush the toxins out. And provide some comfort for the agony she suspected he was in, I suppose. Isamu had been unconscious ever since the battle ended, and even now, in the ice cold water, he did not awake. She was trying, and failing, to save him. So she wept. Lonely and terrified, she let her tears fall. Then, call it romantic, or heartbreaking, he awoke. Just from her tears.

"Isamu!" she had cried.

"Asaka," he replied.

"Are you in pain?" she asked.

"Seeing you sad? Yes, I am."

"No! Don't feel like that, please. Please, not for me." Asaka had begged.

"Only if your tears run dry. Only then."

She stopped crying, and just lay in the water with him, while his breathing grew shallower. But she couldn't stop herself from speaking.

"Why? Why did this happen? I don't want you gone from me! I don't want you gone and far past me."

Isamu looked straight into her eyes, and whispered, "Past you? Asaka, don't be foolish. Look at us, remember us. I could never leave you. We have shared far too much for that ever to happen; memories, pain, joy, anger, and devotion, they have all tied us together inseparably. We share this life. Always this life. Even if I pass on, that will never change."

Asaka had to hold back fresh tears, but managed to smile all the same, saying. "You are right. And we have given all we can to each other. We would give life for each other...no, not life; our hearts, we would give our hearts to each other. To keep safe. Hearts are so much more than life."

With those vows, they came together as close as two people could, and waited for the end. Yet they would change everything.

Without them being aware, their chakra had slowly started to unravel from themselves. It twisted, Isamu's red and flickering, and Asaka's violet and unwavering. It is unclear of exactly what happened. They were barely aware of anything outside of each other at the time. But they say that Isamu's chakra started to wind itself around Asaka's, and Asaka's likewise. It was done before the two foxes were able to comprehend what was happening; they found themselves completely healed, and connected in exactly the way our greatest and wisest summons could never discover. Fully separate, and fully one."

-------

The sky waited for them. Still as winter, gauging the two young ones' reactions. Fukasaku waited as well.

Naruto cracked the tension. "That...that all really happened?"

"As sure as night and day lil' one. Many years ago, before even my time, but yes, it is all true."

The boy felt a dangerous rush of hope and he was too overwhelmed to fight it. "That's…"

"Breathtaking."

The ninja gazed at the kunoichi who had completed his thought. Green irises stared back, adding, "And beautiful. It's hard to believe it's true."

Naruto only nodded.

Assessing the two, Fukasaku spoke again.

"After the summoning world learned of what had happened, we were finally able to reproduce the bond for others. Of course, it ended up with a very different purpose than the old masters had searched for. It was not a tool for battle, but a commitment. One of the fiercest kinds only accomplished between those who felt fervently enough. Who considered the other person…precious enough. No pairing who has gone through this has ever gained effects as powerful as Isamu and Asaka did though…enough to bring them back from the edge of death. Nor has there ever been a human bonded this way. But every last one has been changed through it."

The toad peered toward and through the boy and girl, still after all this time, hand in hand.

"Now do you understand?"

Gripping tighter, Sakura gave their answer, while staring into blue.

"Yes. We're ready."

Wrinkling into a firm line, the sage's mouth betrayed his mood. "Good. Then get into the water, young'ins."

Dropping their hands, they moved to the edge of the riverbed, pausing. The water mirrored the sky perfectly, its imitation betrayed only by the waves lapping against the grass.

Naruto said, "We'll have to change into other clothes later, I guess."

Sakura had her attention fixed on the moon. "No. We should just take off our sandals and you know, outer layers... That way they stay dry. It'll save time."

"…Yeah. That makes sense," The blonde ninja spoke towards the water.

Without another sound, they took off their sandals. Then, turning their backs to one another, they undressed until Sakura was left in her black undershirt and shorts, and Naruto with a bare chest.

They faced each other, and shivered in the now warm night air.

Looking to Fukasaku, they received a nod. Still, they were frozen for a moment on the bank. Finally, they waded, side-by-side, into the water.

The first step was as shocking cold as a friend's betrayal. Rocks smoothed from forgotten years cradled the soles of their feet. Because of the bonding, they didn't dare use chakra to stabilize themselves, cautious about how it could affect the process. Instead, when Sakura nearly slipped and fell, Naruto caught her. "Thank you," the cherry blossom said.

Skin slowly numbing, they kept pushing through until they were chest deep. Crying out, the wind picked up suddenly and pulled at the surface of the water, making it slap against the two teens. The chill made even more apparent, the boy and girl instinctively drew closer together. And they tried to, and did, pick out Fukasaku on the riverbank, and Tsunade further back.

"Old toad?" Naruto asked.

"Face each other." The sage said.

They already were.

"Now stand as close as possible to each other without making contact. You should be able to sense the coursing of the other's blood."

Arranging themselves accordingly, Naruto looked down at Sakura. Her white shoulders against the river were water lilies, blindingly perfect.

"_Stop."_ The boy demanded of himself. "_Not now...not now."_

Sakura arched her neck to get a proper look at her friend. Forcing her courage, she made herself ask, "Are you afraid?"

The blue of his eyes had never before seemed so much like night. "No. Yes."

"Which one is it?"

"Both. No for me, yes for you."

Lashes pressed firmly against the tops of her cheekbones, she said, "No. For both."

Naruto didn't add anything else.

Fukasaku called out. "Ready?" As if he had needed to ask.

They nodded, and then so did the toad. He said, "Then listen to me closely and make sure you understand. Chakra is a living part of you. It is the energy that drives life; without it, we die. It is not a stationary force. Because of that we can manipulate chakra, which, in the simplest terms possible, is what I suppose you two are about to do. But it is more complicated than that.

You are linking your chakra to each other. Not one of you supplying the other, or one latching on to the other's, but equal connectivity. But you stay independent. Think of it like this; the bond is like two vines that are twisted around each other. The vines move, change, and grow, together, supporting each other, but they are still two separate plants. Yet they can't really be separated either, because they survive _better _with one another, they _thrive_. Understand? And the chakra is more than a source to deplete for jutsus, more than your life source; it's…you, fully you in all your strengths and weaknesses. You need to draw your chakra out, not to perform jutsus, but like a living extension of yourself."

It took us a while to figure it out, but we came up with a way to replicate the effect that Isamu and Asaka experienced. The result was strange; a sort of combination of chakra concentration, sealing, prayer, and well…something that is far beyond my own words."

The boy and girl's skin was searing hot.

"Find your chakra children. Search for, and find the center of that energy. Use the water to help muffle everything around you except for each other's presence and the pulse of your own chakra. Then surface once you've found it."

Inches left between their bodies, they both wished they could say something, but silence stayed in place. Their eyes closed, and their faces were like those carved on the Hokage Monument that watched over them. With the stars burning their skin, they sank beneath the water's surface; almost everything was instantaneously smothered. Hair floating in tendrils framing their faces, they saw only each other, felt only each other, knew only each other. The world held them, and only them.

As rapid as sunset becomes evening, they felt something flow like water deeper than flesh underneath their skin. A surge that pushed and pulled at the same time, and while trying to contain it, they broke the surface of the water.

"Can you feel it?" Fukasaku asked.

"Yes," Sakura said. And it was quiet.

"Naruto?" The girl whispered.

The boy waited, and then responded, "I can," without looking at her, the line of his jaw stiff. Glancing at his hands, Sakura saw that he was clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles were as moon-pale as her own.

"Naruto." The worry wrapped itself like a noose around her words.

Only the wind responded.

Sakura let her fingers float over those of her precious person's, almost grazing them.

"Naruto."

He held her gaze, but still did not speak.

"We're safe. I'm safe. It...that thing isn't going to hurt us." Her soft voice was rainfall trying to wash away the dust.

Staring down at where their hands almost touched, Naruto said, "So far."

She bit her lips so hard that a bead of red threatened to stain them.

The boy who was so close to her saw and the change in his expression threatened to crush Sakura.

"I can feel him there, mixed with my own chakra. Like he's just going crazy trying to find a way out, through…through this. Through you."

Making herself barely audible, the cherry blossom said, "Kyuubi won't. I won't let him hurt you."

Naruto's eyes became huge and filled with something that haunted around the edges of her heart. He was terrified or something stronger that was impossible for her to name. Then Naruto smiled like he was trying to force reassurance through it.

With an equal need, she mimicked him. But they both let the smiles melt fall into the ripples.

The toad prepared to continue now that the two souls in the river looked ready.

"Now bring the chakra to the surface, like you're almost ready to let it slip through, but hold on just hard enough to keep it contained."

Doing as he said, the two focused on the energy they felt, and dragged it until they felt like electricity was sparking along every surface of their body.

Fukasaku croaked into the night, "I am going to tell you the vows. This is the most important part. _Mean_ the words; let them rush into your blood and feed into your minds and hearts until they rest in every part of you. If there is no meaning, there is no bond."

There was noise in the silence.

"Press your palms together."

They did, lifting them up with their forearms making contact as well. And the feel of their skin was frightening in a way that they had never come across.

"Repeat what I say, Naruto: Memories, pain, joy, anger, and devotion tie me to you, and with you do I share this life."

The blue and green were hanging above the sky. The blue tried to speak, but could only keep looking.

Retrying, Naruto opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. His senses were heightened and everything was intensely clear to him.

He spoke with a whisper but his voice had never been as strong. "Memories, pain, joy, anger, and…devotion. Tie me to you, and with only you do I share this life, and this will never change."

Sakura's chakra was exploding within in her, making all the world vibrant. Nothing was left dull, and Naruto's hair resembled sunlight even in the dead of night.

"Repeat, Sakura: We have given all we can to one another, and now we give not our lives but our hearts.

Pushing her hands against Naruto's as if she could get them even closer, she took in his growing radiance.

"We have given all we can to one another, and now we give not only our lives but our hearts." On the last gentle syllable, she seemed to burst with pearls of something that could only be called light. Sakura was luminescent, and Naruto thought, a goddess in this moment.

The boy was sunset gold and the girl was snow white.

The light was breaking through their skin in order to shine into the dark.

Sitting on the bank, shocked motionless into an indiscernible part of the earth, Fukasaku could not believe what he was seeing. He couldn't think. "Impossible."

The glow spread and spread, and the gold mixed with the white until Tsunade and the sage could not stand to face it straight on, even if they wanted to more than anything.

Nothing could be seen but light that ate the black of the sky and made the stars pale.

Slowly, slowly, it faded. As it shrank back, into the fighters' bodies, two coils of chakra could be seen projecting from the two, already woven around each other a dozen times over. One was green like spring's new leaves, and the other bluer than the summer sky.

Then the chakra descended back as well, into their hosts, taking a bit of the other's back with it.

Naruto and Sakura were left standing in the water, eyes shut, hands pressed tight, with the night around them like it hadn't been forever changed for a moment.

For a while, they stayed like that, and then, like they had decided it ahead of time, both opened their sight at the same time.

All Naruto and Sakura did was drink in the other like they had never seen before.

Breathing, softly, eyes not taking enough, skin not feeling enough, they stole time.

A white hand floated to Sakura's chest, clutching at it as if there wasn't enough air in the world.

"So this is how it feels," Sakura said with more silence than sound.

"Like sunlight."

Her hand was open to his as a flower to the dawn.

"No," he said, "like moonlight."

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**Okay, have to say, this was one of the most difficult things I've ever written! And it did not help that my free time has been basically ZERO for the past 3 months! But, I'm glad I finally finished this chapter and get to update now. I hope you guys enjoy, and please, let me know what you think...I hope I captured what I meant to decently well.**

**Oh, and another thing, I'm thinking of changing the title to "Tied". What do you all think? Thanks for all the suport!**


	7. Departure

It was no longer the same night.

The date had not changed; only an hour had passed since they first tasted the cool in the air that always seems to find late hours. The sky was no darker, the stars no brighter, and the water no warmer.

But it was not the same, at least to the boy and girl who were treading out of a once lonely river. Everything was coated with the residue of something unnamable, unmentionable for the two. For the moment.

They were opposite each other, closer than they normally would have stood. Water slid off their skin, and they stood shaking with droplets hanging on the grass, crooked streams running down in crisscross patterns down towards their feet. Naruto and Sakura were silent. Avoiding locking gazes, instead the boy and girl both noticed that the false dew was too perfect to be water. Their tear-shaped perfection seemed to warn of a future.

Then they moved to get dressed, turning their backs because though everything important was covered, it was too much to face each other just yet.

Clothes awkwardly sticking to slick skin, Naruto asked,

"Are you okay?"

Sakura traced her eyes on Naruto's profile, who looked ahead waiting for her response.

"Y-yes." The cherry blossom said, the chatter resonating.

With a frown, Naruto turned to her. "No you're not. Look, you're freezing." Not a thought than her condition in his head, the boy walked over and lifted her hands. He placed them in between his own, creating friction by rubbing his palms over her ivory fingers.

"See?" he said looking down at her their hands, concentrating on her getting her circulation going. Naruto mumbled, not seeing his precious person's face, "Warning me against the cold, when I'm fine and you're a damn ice cube."

His hands were warm, too warm for having been in a river in the middle of a windy night. A thought passed through the rosette that this was due to the fox. But she forgot this as she was drawn to focus on his hands.

They were gentle like a believer's prayer.

"Naruto." The way she said his name made the blonde slow his work, while at the same time his ears perked on hearing the crush of grass.

"Really, I'm fine…better than actually." Like a blossom in the spring, she unfurled her clasped hands, forcing Naruto's open with her. She laid the backs of her hands into his, leaving Naruto cradling thin lily fingers.

At that, the boy realized what he had been doing, the cloud of his concern for his cherry blossom being lifted. His face flushed. Naruto didn't want to look up, but he did. Her eyes were unbearably soft. Softness that drew dreams of submission.

Their silence reigned.

Pebbles skittered from behind. Startled and relieved, Naruto and Sakura looked for the source and found Tsunade striding as fast as she could in heels across a riverbed with Fukasaku on her shoulder. The sight seemed so ridiculous that Naruto wanted to laugh, but one look at Tsunade's face snapped the smile in two. He could already tell she was unsettled, taken back, some combination of the two. Not unhappy, but something else.

"Sakura! Naruto!" Her voice was slightly higher, slightly louder, than usual. "Are you-are you okay? How do you feel?"

Lowered eyebrows showing their confusion, their first reaction was to assess the other. Taking in every detail, the rechecked the other's condition. They were no damages. Facing their hokage, Sakura spoke.

"Sensei, neither of us is hurt."

The Godaime growled, her face lining with frustration. "I know that. Kami, don't downplay anything damnit! Be completely honest with me!"

Their mouths dropped opened with shock. Tsunade's voice was so harsh, but there was no anger driving it; it was fear. And her fear left them at a loss.

"What do you remember? Be accurate," she said with her voice trembling like it was trying to run away.

Sakura swallowed against the growing lump in her throat, "Well…what I remember is that we got into the water. We then walked to chest level, and Fukasaku told us to face each other. Fukasaku was speaking to us, and described the bonding, telling us what to do. He was detailed. Then Naruto and I went underwater together.

We… and both found the center of chakra like he said. Then we, well, I suppose brought it to the surface like Fukasaku said. It was like nothing I've ever experienced, sensei. Then we held onto it. And then…"

"We said the vows." Naruto added softly.

A slight smile broke on the kunoichi's face. "Yes, we said the vows. It's hazy, but the next thing I know, we're standing in the water in the same spots, feeling…different. Changed."

"That's it? That's all you remember, Sakura?"

Jade eyes wide, she said, "Yes, sensei. "

Wheeling towards Naruto, she demanded, words gaining momentum by the second, "And you, Naruto? Your story matches hers? _Exactly_?"

Naruto fought against his dry mouth to answer. "Yes, Baa-chan! Really."

He glanced at Sakura, then asked, "Why are you so worried?"

Tsunade's forehead smoothed like wind-swept patterns in sand. A heavy sigh rushed from her lips and faded into silence. She pressed her fingers into her temples as Fukasaku took the moment to hop down to the ground.

"I'm sorry," the sannin said. "I wasn't trying to frighten you two, but you don't understand." Turning mute, her words left the children waiting, anticipation climbing and leaning towards the sky.

"What she wants to say," a creaked voice interrupted, "is that what just happened, what occurred…what you two were able to control, Naruto and Sakura, was unanticipated. To say the least."

It was the blonde's and rosette's turns to have their faces creased with thought.

"But, we did what we were supposed to. Did it not work?" the girl questioned. "I could have sworn, I mean," she looked at Naruto, and knew that she had the same expression in her eyes as he did, "_We_ thought…we felt it."

Starting out uncertain, she finished with a suggestion of fierceness in her voice that made Fukasaku think she had a kunai hidden in her throat.

"Young'ins, no one is denying the fact that the bonding took place. Far from it. What I'm trying to tell you has to do with what happened within the bonding itself. Or I suppose I should say outside it."

"And what is that?" Naruto roughly asked.

"A wonder."

The sky stuttered for the children with the beginning stains of dawn.

A word from blush lips barely grazed the air. "Wonder?"

Fukasaku nodded. "It's the only word for it. And even then, it doesn't fit. It was impossible, unprecedented, and it happened to you two."

"Stop being so damn vague!" yelled the blonde boy who had frustration heaving in his chest. The boy gritted his teeth. "Please, old toad. I know I'm not the smartest guy, so just talk straight. What did me and Sakura do?"

Fukasaku shook his head. "Didn't you listen? It's not what _you_ did. It's what you were able to invoke that has left me completely in awe."

The old sage wasn't looking at them anymore, lost in the workings of the cogs and gears of his mind that had not been jolted in many years .In a voice so muted Naruto wondered if he had actually heard a sound, Fukasaku whispered, "Your souls. What a thing."

And then he returned to them. "Children, I'm sorry, but you'll understand. Soon. For the moment however, we have to get on our way."

At the same time Sakura blurted, "But Fukasaku-sama, you can't!" Naruto shouted, "Now wait a damn minute!" Hearing the other's equally disrespectful voice stunned them both, and they swiveled quickly to stare at the other, then just as soon looked sheepishly away.

But they had to look up again, for the loud bellowing croaks of Fukasaku's laughter were rolling over them. Tsunade was smiling as well. The frustration and confusion that had stifled them was now broken by the young ones' antics. Tsunade thought it was nice, and a relief in a way, to see them behave how they should be allowed to: as rebellious, awkward teenagers.

"Listen to him. You will find out what we meant, rapidly if I know you two. Right now, you both need to focus on starting your mission." Tsunade smirked a bit. "Or did you forget that you two are supposed to be training yourselves into the ground?"

Naruto frowned a bit, not facing the hokage, while Sakura shook her head. "No sensei, we didn't forget. We will do our best."

Naruto left his sulk to add, "Yeah, and we'll come back as the strongest in the village, Baa-chan!"

She gave them both a smile and said, "I know. I have no doubt."

For an instant Naruto was still as a statue, startled by her confirmation, by the trust that she gave to him.

But the boy quickly recovered, and he stood up straighter than before. His face was serious, but not severe. Looking straight into amber irises, he spoke with resolve twisted around every word.

"We won't disappoint you. I promise." He said, ending his vow with the slightest curve at the corner of his mouth.

And Sakura caught an image curving onto her mind of gold and white light, spreading and swelling.

Tsunade couldn't breathe for what felt like the thousandth time that night, for Naruto had never before looked so much like his father. The Godaime couldn't help but be deceived into believing for just a small second in time that it really was Minato in front of her.

With Sakura's stomach twisting into itself, and her heart bending in her rib cage, changing, she tried to deceive herself as well, if only because she didn't understand.

Tsunade shook off the gauze of past memories and tried to speak to the boy who was undeniably Naruto.

"Now, get going!" She didn't have to fake the smile that appeared. "This isn't a vacation; you've got work to do. So head to gate. You'll depart from there."

The rosette was about to ask her teacher if she was going to see them off, but she kept her request shut away. Instead, she told her teacher, "Yes. Goodbye, sensei. We'll send a report soon."

"Don't forget, Tsunade, I've left a messenger toad behind," the sage toad said. "For an emergency."

With no reason to stall any longer, Fukasaku, Naruto, and Sakura leapt into the nearest trees, angling towards the buildings of Konoha, racing to the beginning of their journey.

Following their shadow figures across the deep amethyst until they were dissolved, Tsunade held her hands together, palm against palm.

"But how?" she said.

The silence that responded was a melt of dreams.

She looked to the skies. "Did you know?"

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The gate was opened for them already, Tsunade had warned the guards on duty that once they caught sight of Naruto, Sakura, and a toad, they were to unlock it immediately. As the group of three alighted on the ground, the gate gaped in front of them like a question of possibility.

Fukasaku hopped a few feet in front of the two humans. Walking past the iron structure without display, the ninja were entirely focused on one thing: Their departure.

"We're really doing this. Really going on some crazy journey to some place where hardly anyone has ever visited." Sakura had her eyes trained on her feet, following step after step. She glanced up, finding him once more in the same spot that he had been each time she had checked. Right by her side

Naruto just looked at her with an expression that she almost deciphered before he broke it apart with a smile.

He said, "Yeah. We are." The blond's hand twitched in her direction, or at least Sakura thought, but then he just ran it through his hair that was still damp despite the wind.

She looked back down, watching Fukasaku in front.

"Do you regret it?"

The blurted question staked Sakura's ankles into the ground. She turned and found Naruto a few steps behind her, waiting.

She almost couldn't speak. Almost. "Regret?"

"Yeah." The azure of his eyes was fathomless.

"No. Not at all."

Her abrupt answer caught the boy off-guard, and Sakura took that moment to step towards him, take his hand, and head forward, bringing him along with her.

"Now stop doubting yourself and let's go," she scolded. Naruto willingly let himself be dragged

They caught up to the toad, finding him tapping a webbed foot. Smirking for an instant, it dropped away as he explained.

"Now, you're going to be transported to Myobokuzan by reverse kuchiyose. Naruto, you can do this because of your contract with Gama, and Sakura, you by your bond with Naruto. Now, just hold hands…ah, I see you already are. Good. Well young'ins, Myobokuzan is just an hour ahead of Konoha, so it should be just after dawn there." He paused for breathe.

"Ready?"

Eyes met and grips were tightened.

"Ready." Two hearts promised.

Less than half a second passed and Naruto and Sakura felt compressed into nothing, crushed into infinity.

Another half second, and only a puff of smoke was left in front of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Eyes shut tight, the smell of smoke twisted around Naruto's nose. Smoke and something like perfume.

Squinting his eyes, he recognized Sakura was with him, one, by spying her slits of bright green beside him, and two, because their hands were entwned so completely he couldn't distinguish her fingers from his.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. You?"

"I'm fine."

The smoke fell apart, and they opened up their sight fully to observe where they were.

And a world began to etch itself onto their bound souls.

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**Hey guys! Well, they're finally at Myobokuzan....FINALLY! I can't wait to start writing that part. Oh, and I've officialy changed the title if you didn't notice. I think it's more appropriate. Special thanks to xim-chan for suggestion!**

**Reviews are wecome as always please! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	8. With You

**Unfortunately, Naruto Uzumaki nor the lovely bad-ass Sakura Haruno, or any other Naruto creation is mine. The truth hurts :P**

**_____________________________________________________________________________________________________**

Everywhere they turned astonished the boy and girl. Their eyes were being filled past the point of full and they were spilling over the edges. Their hands were glued to one another's.

The plants were enormous. Naruto and Sakura stretched the muscles in their necks to gaze straight up. Stems rose around them as high as the ancient trees back in Konoha, and single leaves spread more than a dozen boughs could, causing a warm green tint. Mushrooms ranged from the size of their heads to large enough to tower over the two. They made shadows over the teens with their umbrella tops. No matter where they searched they were struck by thick, unfurling plant life. It was overwhelming how insignificant they were.

A small section of the sky was visible, a shade that was like childhood promises.

"You young'ins made it intact. Welcome to Myobokuzan."

Following the voice, Naruto and Sakura found Fukasaku behind them, reclining against the base of one of the mammoth leaves. His face was settled into a sense of comfort only found by returning home.

"Fukasaku!" The blond called. He turned around in a circle, not able to control his bright eyes from devouring the toad's home, with his hands moving and pointing out every image captured.

"This-this is-I mean, LOOK!" The boy ended with his arms above his head and his face stretched with awe.

Pale pink lips broke into a smile to rival one of Naruto's. Sakura could barely keep herself from guffawing. She restricted herself to giggles while the toad had no such reservations, laughing quite freely.

Managing to shove a piece of calm past his enthusiasm, the number one most unpredictable ninja slipped on an embarrassed but not upset expression. Still he couldn't even bring himself to be outraged at their reaction.

"Naruto-chan, you remind me so much of little Jiraiya when he first visited Myobokuzan," Fukasaku said, recalling past memories of a boy with white hair and brash behavior.

"He was just as excited as you are now." Then he added, "And you haven't even seen the half of it."

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Naruto, Sakura, and Fukasaku were standing on a leaf as wide as the river they had been bonded in and high enough that it seemed that they could jump through the gaps in the thin clouds. Here they could see across all of Myobokuzan.

"They're amazing," Sakura said breathlessly.

Structures the color of sand twisted and curved around themselves. Bending towards the ground at crescent-like tips, rising on angled planes into cones, or even building level upon narrowing level into the sky, no single one was exactly like another. They dotted across the entire landscape, with no set alignment to them. And from what the ninja could see, there were small, dark evenly spaced spots dug out of these oddities: windows.

Faded jade mountains encircled them, and Naruto and Sakura could hardly believe they were already on top of one. The jagged tops cut into the clouds like scars from kunai. And packed as tight as can be, between the mountains and the towers, was the strangest and most beautiful forest the two had ever seen; made up of not just leaves or mushrooms, but flowers too, and so many other plants that, at least to Naruto, were unrecognizable. The blossoms bled sweetness into their mouths.

Birds could be heard, either flying overhead or calling to their mates at their hidden nests. The movement of water caught Naruto's hearing and he knew a river was not far off. The boy could also pick up a more urgent, fervent sound, and he realized there was a waterfall somewhere too.

"_Guess you'd need something more effective than a garden hose here."_

At their new elevation, the whole sky was opened above them. The sun stretched out, making it a perfect pale sapphire. The light made each color look as vivid as fresh paint, as if they would leave a wet streak behind on Naruto and Sakura's enclosed hands if they were to try.

The jinchuuriki observed the medic at his side out of the corner of his eye. Her smile was slight and she was examining something new every second. So much curiosity poured out with her every movement that Naruto couldn't hold back a chuckle.

Sakura noticed where the boy's attention was focused. The cherry blossom unfolded her smile, wide enough that it spread to Naruto in an instant.

The boy and girl had never felt so insignificant and at peace in the same moment.

Fukasaku glanced at them and then shook his head before he spoke.

"Well tadpoles, you've been impressed. Now time for the tour, some food, and then straight to work."

He hopped to the edge of the leaf, and then plummeted over the edge- only to reappear seconds later on the head of a toad about half the size of Gamabunta balanced on a leaf three stories below.

"C'mon!" The sage called. "Don't dawdle!"

The sun was rising in the sky making its rays grip onto Naruto and Sakura. The girl squeezed his hand and then let go. She took a few steps toward the edge and then was still. She turned to face Naruto and she seemed content, different in a way the blond couldn't grasp.

Sakura said in a confident tone, "I think I'm going to like it here." She paused. Then, "With you."

Naruto's heart was tight like a rope had been wrapped and knotted on it. He tried to find something to say, something that was _right_. But then he settled for something that was true.

"I already know I'm going to love it here."

He walked to the edge where she was. He was hesitant for a second, then took her hand and his bluer than blue eyes ran to hersand held on. They were like the sky on fire, and the cherry blossom knew what Naruto had meant to add without him saying another word.

_With you._

She changed their grip, weaving her fingers into his, and he knew she had understood. And for once, he didn't feel guilty he realized with surprise.

"MOVE IT!" Shouted an impatient toad. "Gamakoru here isn't exactly a feather you know, and he is standing on a leaf, which while much stronger than any normal plant, is still _a leaf_!"

Jolted, the pair recovered and grinned, then jumped on the over-sized amphibian's head who immediately took off hopping through the forest at a rapid speed.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Kami, this place is huge! Ever since Gamakoru left, we've been walking for ages." Naruto groaned, stretching his arms behind his back.

The pink-haired medic walking by his side sent a glare his way and the blond ninja directed his voice to the sage leading the way. "Not that I mind, really. I mean everything is amazing!"

Looking at Sakura like one would check to see if the road ahead is safe, Naruto added, "But I'm starving! Can we eat soon, old toad?"

"Naruto!" The cherry blossom punched his arm. "Stop being rude," Sakura scolded, only then to have her stomach give a growl.

Fukasaku glanced back at the sound, a bemused expression pulling his wrinkled skin.

"Almost at my home, tadpoles. You'll eat soon enough." Leading the way as they reached the base of a staggering hill, he started what must have been humming, interjected with almost lyrical croaks.

The medic's porcelain cheeks colored faintly and she looked away from Naruto who had a grin like a fox on his face even while he rubbed his arm.

"Oh, be quiet," she grumbled to the silent boy. But she took one look at his smile and her pout surrendered. On anyone else the expression would seem fake, but as usual it was just right for Naruto.

"You look so goofy," Sakura said, not meaning to insult but simply stating a fact. At the edge of her hearing, Fukasaku was still humming.

Naruto's smile grew even bigger if that was possible, his teeth white against his deep tan and the sunlight bending onto the surface of his eyes. "And you're trying too hard to be polite," he said, his grin dripping with every word as his strides become longer, the ascent growing steeper.

A pink eyebrow arched above a grass-green eye. "One of us has to be," she countered coolly.

Naruto laughed, the sound swelling around them like a gale that could bend the trees in half.

Sakura's smirk relaxed into a softer version of itself. _Now when did that happen_? She couldn't help but think.

She had heard the blond laugh so many times that she didn't think to pay more attention to it. But in this foreign place it seemed that she was really hearing it for the first time in a long time. Somewhere between training and searching her friend's laughter had become richer, deeper. Its former tone ingrained so well in her memory, paired with a bright orange jumpsuit, had given way. Now just like she had noticed the difference between Konoha's plants to Myobokuzan, she now saw the change from the 12-year-old boy she had known to… whatever he was now.

But she was happy to realize one thing; that Naruto's laugh had kept the same weightless quality about it, like it could rise above everything and anything in the world. She hoped that never changed.

Fragments of chuckles breaking through his voice, the blond interrupted her thoughts.

"Well, then it's perfect we're in this together. You can be too polite, I'll be too loud and we'll meet in the middle!"

She laughed as well: at the boy's logic, his changed laughter, that wide smile that fit his face perfectly in every way, and the way that he made her feel like she could fall into the clouds.

Suddenly they found themselves at the top of the hill. Built into the side of the mound, they could see what seemed to be a smaller version of the strange tan buildings they had noticed earlier.

Naruto squinted. It looked a bit like a mushroom, if a mushroom could be wrung out like dishtowel and then stretched slightly.

"Lunchtime, young'ins!" The sage toad called. "Hope you guys are hungry, Ma always cooks up a mountain of food."

They made their way to the opening and Naruto loudly said, "Thank Kami! Old toad, I could eat twenty bowls of ramen! Or fifty! Or…"

The ninja's voice trailed off as he passed under the doorway and saw a toad that looked as old as Fukasaku - dicing up a caterpillar the size of his forearm.

Naruto's stomach started to twist and Sakura's moon-pale skin was tinged with green like her eyes as they widened.

The other amphibian took her attention off the appetizer she was preparing and peered at the newcomers.

"Eh? Pa, who are those lil' ones with you!"

Fukasaku went to the low round table in the middle of the room and sat down. "They're here to train, Ma. This boy here, Naruto Uzumaki, was Jiraiya-chan's student."

Then he decided a little fun wouldn't hurt. "The other child is Sakura Haruno, his little girlfriend. The boy's, not the lecher."

Naruto and Sakura had been just about to sit down next to each other when Fukasaku casually let this slip. In less than five seconds, they rapidly looked at each other, just as quickly looked away, turned various shades of rose and began protesting. Loudly.

"Old toad, wha-what the HELL-"

"Fukasaku-sama, _really_, that's not what-"

But the husband and wife paid no attention. As if she hadn't heard the two embarrassed teens, Ma glared at Pa. "You old fool, I guessed that much, not like they're here on a field trip! Train in what?" She pushed the caterpillar she had been cutting aside in a pot and began mashing beetles in a bowl with a pestle.

The sage lit his pipe and inhaled deeply before responding. "The boy needs to get stronger. He's going to follow in his master's footsteps and learn the sage arts."

The female amphibian slowed her grindings slightly.

Fukasaku added, "And Tsunade was hoping the girl could study the plants around here; she's a medic, a gifted one, so we might as well see if the healers will teach her some techs as well."

Ma stopped her work and looked straight on at her husband, then took a closer inspection of the two teens that were blushing bright red and somehow managing to look sickly green as well. She sent a look back to Fukasaku filled with exasperation and demanding explanation.

He stared back, blowing a winding river of smoke curving from the corner of his mouth to the ceiling.

She sighed, then returned to cooking. "Always have to bring stuff like this home, eh? Well, I expect more of an explanation later! But for now I suppose I better get cooking. I mean," and she waved her spoon toward Naruto and Sakura, "Look at how skinny these tadpoles are! Especially the pink one."

She croaked in a motherly way. "Don't worry now, here you'll be able to eat plenty and well! I'm making Pa's favorite tonight." She smiled at them in a genuinely kind way. "Caterpillar slug soup and worms in beetle paste!" she proclaimed proudly.

Slowly, Naruto and Sakura turned to face each other with equally horrified expressions, their embarrassment draining away

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With the birds in the sky inspecting them as they flew overhead, sunlight and cherry blossom petals were fanned out and poked through with blades of grass.

Naruto and Sakura were lying on their backs on the top of the hill waiting for Fukasaku and his wife - "Just call me Ma," she had said- to finish speaking in 'private'. From where they reclined, they could just see the couple through the open doorway, but couldn't hear what they were saying.

"I don't think I can ever eat again," the girl mumbled, making circles on her stomach as if to comfort it.

Naruto switched his position from his back to his side toward the flower soaking up the rays. "Don't say that! Think of ramen, delicious, non-gag inducing, Ichiraku Ramen" he said soothingly.

Then he looked off away from her and muttered, "Though the second helpings? Now that was cruel..."

Sakura looked down at her stem-thin legs that unfolded down the bottom of the hill. "I am not too skinny," she said with a pout.

"Of course you're not," Naruto said waving his hand. "You're just right. Ma is just an old biddy. I remember, sometimes when we were on missions, old ladies would get fussy over me too, squawking and saying I was too short, too thin, blah blah." Then he paused and sat up, pulling his knees to his chest.

"Though sometimes it was kinda nice." Glancing down at Sakura, her limbs splayed into the grass, he added, "You know, having someone worry about you."

The cherry blossom arched her neck up only to see her best friend's face turned toward the toad home again. Using her hands she lifted herself up, leaning back on her palms. For a moment she just stared at his profile that showed nothing more than strength and peace.

Sakura was silent a few seconds more. Then she reached out and pulled his arm from him, Naruto whipping his head around with confusion pressed on his face.

"What are you doing, Sakura?"

The medic ignored him, lifting one finger that signified that the blond had to wait. She scrutinized his arm, then turned, not to look at the boy and explain herself, but to poke his ribcage. She repeated this on his abdomen, causing Naruto to laugh by reaction.

"Sakura, wha-"

She interrupted him. "Hmm, just as I feared. It appears you are indeed too thin, Naruto."

Her face and tone turned serious as she continued. "Yes, I believe you could use more meat on your bones. In fact, it's possible you're already starting to waste away!" Not paying attention to the expression on her friend's face that clearly showed that he thought the slugs had addled Sakura's thoughts, she pressed on.

"As the official medic-nin on this mission, I prescribe an increased consumption of food and shall personally make sure you eat plenty in order to combat this problem. Why," and here she couldn't help but let a corner of a smirk slip out, but got it under control. "I may even have to recommend THIRD helpings. And I'll make sure you do it."

Then her smile was warmer than the light that played across her skin.

"After all, I don't want to worry too much about you," she said.

His face cleared as he heard her words, hanging behind like a melody and they seeped through.

_I don't want to worry too much._

He stirred back to her. And grinned. "Well, Medic-sama, I think there's a patient you've overlooked."

She looked briefly puzzled before Naruto's hand flew forward, and unleashed his attack - by tickling her.

"I mean, look at these bones!" he said with a mocking shocked tone in his voice as Sakura couldn't hold back her yelping laughter.

"Stop, STOP, hahahaha, NO, hahahah, Naruto, I'm, HAHA, going to _kill-,_"

He clucked at her, "Now, now, murdering burns too many calories."

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Husband and wife were in the kitchen, having been deep in discussion before being drawn away by what sounded like a torture attempt outside.

The two toads stood side by side, gazing out over the two tadpoles.

"So that's the child of prophecy?" Ma questioned.

Fukasaku kept his eyes on the children, it now being Sakura doing the tickling. Naruto's begs for mercy spread out in at least a half-mile radius.

"I'm sure of it."

Ma was quiet. Then, "And that little girl? What's her real role here?"

The sage took a deep draw."I think-" and ash clouds bulged from Pa's pipe. They floated out the door and into the sky. "She's here to make sure the prophecy is a good one."

Ma raised an eye-brow, and looked to the two who were managing to tickle each other breathless at the same time.

"Well, then we'd better get them started, hadn't we?"

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**Hi! Well I wanted to apologize that this is SOOO late. I went to a competition in late June and so I had to focus on preparing for that for about 3 weeks beforehand, THEN actually leave to compete for a week. It was fun, but tiring, and took up much of my writing time.**

**But I have a beta finally! The lovely Suaru-ch****an**** edited for me, and she did wonderfully. Go check her fanfics out :)**

**I tried to make this chapter a more playful one, because I love that aspect of Naruto and Sakura's relationship. Hope you enjoy the chapter, and reviews are as always, welcomed, desired, and encouraged!**


	9. Foul Mouth Healer

**It's been ages and ages but next chapter is finally here! Hope you enjoy, and if you do, review? They are the happy little marshmellows in my hot chocolate life- still good without them but much better with. MUCH MUCH BETTER. They also inspire speediness, especially since I have oodles of time next week with Thanksgiving break. (hint hint)**

**Kishimoto has dibs on the Narutoverse. Not me**

* * *

_Two days._ Two days since they had traveled to a foreign place. Two days since they had been on their own, away from the village, but not on a mission - or at least one of the strangest the cherry blossom had ever been on. Two days that they had spent trying not to show their true feelings about Ma's home-cooking. Two days of strange peace that pervaded even as sweat dripped off their bodies in rivulets. Two days spent learning, training, and growing.

It had been two days since Naruto and Sakura had arrived in Myobokuzan.

The girl sat unwinding her legs off the edge of the one of the many perfectly ninja-sized leaves that sprawled over the mountain, lying back in the sunken center. Sunset slept an hour dead, the light still hovering in the sky. Naruto wasn't back yet. Still training with Fukasaku, he'd return in time for dinner.

_Probably he'll regret not training longer_, she thought with a grimace.

And what training it was. Letting herself sink further in, the pink bud nestled into an oddly comfortable spot. All she could see was sky draped above her, green rising around her body.

Yesterday, after they had – unfortunately - eaten, Fukasaku had led Naruto off to teach him more about the Sage Arts. A waterfall existed after all, as Sakura had surmised earlier, and it was there that the old sage was going to explain to and start teaching Naruto exactly what his training involved. Pulling up the memory through her mind, she saw how Naruto had fallen onto the ground later that same day long after sundown and well into the night tired, and a bit frustrated. But he grinned for her. Excitement seeped out of him when Sakura had asked the blond boy to tell her about what he'd done.

He had told her about the difference between sage techniques and ninja techniques**;** how he was going to learn to draw natural energy from his surroundings to add to his chakra**,** that he had to learn to harmonize with nature to use the natural energy, which apparently involved being very _very_ still, and how Fukasaku had been able to pick up a massive stone toad. He told her how it was like mint added to chocolate and vanilla swirl**, **and no matter what, he just had to master the sage techniques. They would make him better and stronger and able to protect everyone; he just _had_ to.

A smile bloomed wide and full on Sakura's face. He spoke so fast and simply, his voice reverberating with an uncontainable joy. Like a sunrise burning on the surface of the sea, Naruto's chance to become something more lit every stretch of tanned skin, every excitedly flung hand, every gold strand of hair falling into flashing bright eyes, and Sakura was more than happy to bask in the warmth.

Thinking back, she wished she could have been there to see Naruto's first day in action, his confusion, his determination, his frustration, his eyes. But she hadn't been able to. After all, she had been training as well that day.

* * *

It had been unexpected. Sakura supposed she had come to assume she would be going along with Naruto as he learned of his training. The only reason she was even taking in all the wonder of the mountain was because of Naruto anyway; so when Ma had put up a webbed palm to stop her from following them out the door, she had felt surprised to say the least.

"Oh no, not now tadpole. You have your own agenda today."

She and Naruto blinked. "Excuse me?" she said, while Naruto responded with an ever polite**,**"What?"

Fukasaku raised a white tufted eyebrow. "You heard her, young'ins. You can't just expect Sakura to watch over lil' Naruto, I mean, I know how first love affects the young, in fact, I remember when I was a striking young'in myself, just 150 years old, when-"

Before the teens could work up absolute outraged and express said outrage, a voice snapped in.

"PA! Quit yapping, you ol' geezer!" Ma bustled out the door. "Yer wasting time and Yuuna won't be napping _all _day!"

Hopping towards Sakura, she huffed her next words out, gesturing sharply towards the sage such as he had to duck to avoid getting hit. "Sakura-chan has learning to do, plants to analyze, hags to impress - so we gotta go NOW."

Without further ado, Ma set off in the direction opposite of where Naruto and Fukasaku had been about to go. Glancing at one another, Naruto shrugged his shoulders in response to Sakura's confusion.

Hell if he knew what was going on.

She sighed, punched Naruto in the arm, wished him luck, and ran off after Ma.

* * *

If there remained one fact Sakura would have thought impossible, it would have been to discover ever more lushness on the mountaintop. The longer the flower drifted along through the toad-trodden paths with Ma, the deeper they went, the more variety she saw. Flowers and herbs and anomalies, a few she recognized, some that seemed vaguely reminiscent, and others that she couldn't categorize if she tried.

And all the blue and sun just over her head fed them all. Every moment that passed, she wanted to drown more and more in the sky, so warm and near it pressed upon her shoulders like calloused fingertips. She longed it really was that close, so she could use her shuriken to carve a piece out and feel its weight in her hand.

"Keeping up!?"

Sakura sighed, bemused. Apparently, silence was not to Ma's liking, if the constant croak of conversation from her was any indication. She chatted endlessly as Sakura patiently listened.

Her husband Pa was such a fool, he always babbled on uselessly, the ol' geezer should have sent a lil' forewarning-not that she minded because Sakura was _such_ a lovely one even if she looked thinner than a stick-bug, but don't worry, I'll fix that soon, did she like the mountain so far?Yes, it is a beautiful place, oh, you wonder who we're seeing? Yuuna, the Head Healer of the Toads.

"So she's in charge of everyone's health on the mountain? Like the head medic?" Sakura guessed.

Only for a moment did Ma pause before speaking, furrowing the folds above her bulged eyes.

"…Well, not exactly. See, I suppose she's technically in charge of that, and of all the other healer toads, but in a way it's, well, beneath her."

The girl raised an eyebrow.

Spying Sakura's curiosity, she continued, "She mostly studies nowadays. Builds her knowledge, records it, and _occasionally _teaches, occasionally meaning hardly ever. We'll have to ask her permission before yer allowed to begin any sort of research. Hopefully, she'll also allow another one of the healers to teach you some techs. Yunna is the best and wisest with our toad healing arts."

Muttered none too quietly slipped an added, "Even if the hag just lounges around most of the time."

For a moment, the rosette hesitated, before venturing, "You don't like her that much…?"

Turning back with honest shock on her face, Ma exclaimed, "Goodness no, she's a dear friend of mine!" Wagging a webbed flipper, Ma admonished, "She's a useless, lazy spinster, but she's a friend. And you'll want to make a good impression!"

With that being made clear, Ma began moving again, leaving Sakura to shake her head before following.

* * *

Soon after, the sound of water trailed to Sakura once more that day, ahead behind a dense thicket of plants. Ma moved a great deal lower to the ground than the sapling limbed girl, so when the toad found a suspiciously shadowed gap just her size, she hopped through without glancing back. Sakura grumbled and then pushed the grass wall aside, tumbled through-

And sucked in her breath sharp as gashed glass because suddenly she grew afraid it might leave her.

A glade spread out before her; the ground underfoot was all moss, spongy-green in a rich, soft way. Everything sat dosed in shadow as a massive mushroom loomed overhead, acting as a parasol to almost the entire space. It towered, only the white underside visible to her, at least twenty feet above the top of her pink head. The stem stood smack-dab center in the space and only around the edges where the cap didn't quite meet the wall of plants that enclosed them did she catch some sun darting past. Slithering around one half of the ringlet of light that survived flowed a small creek. The rays dove into the water, rushing away into where the current disappeared into the dense growth.

Opposite the creek, in the other half circle, a cluster of toadstools sat. They were fat and flat and pale, the closest one to Sakura barely clearing the ground. After it, the next was just above the level of the first. They continued like that, in ascending order, curving around higher into the air like marble stairs. To complete the illusion, the last of them ended just below the fungi canopy, a perfect top step.

Sakura somehow wasn't surprised when Ma hopped towards and on the first and shortest of the bunch, before continuing to the next. The girl followed and started to climb.

Treading from top to top easily enough, she soon found herself staring at the surface of the mushroom's cap. As wide and long as the mushroom was tall, it radiated red like an overripe cherry, with white splatters pretending to be spots scattered across. On top of one of these splotches, sunbathing and snoring, lay an indigo toad.

Indicating Sakura to follow with a nod of her head, Ma led them closer towards the lounging lump before calling out, "Yuuna."

The head healer of Myobokuzan didn't appear to notice them. Her eyes were closed and she seemed more cat than amphibian, lazy and content in the light as she slept on her stomach.

Ma huffed. Then she hopped a little more to align herself right beside where Yuuna basked, and shouted into her face "Yuuna! Get up, you good for nothing witch!"

The snores ceased and were replaced by a voice that made Sakura recall the hardened kunoichi who hung around the Jounin lounge smoking two packs a day. It grumbled, "Pot. Kettle."

Ma rolled her round eyes. "Just get up," she seethed. "There's an important matter to be discussed."

The ragged, muffled mumble that followed was barely decipherable. "No problem. Right after my nap."

"YUUNA!"

"Oh fine! For Kami's sake…"

Slowly the healer raised herself up. As Sakura watched, she couldn't help but think, despite her apparent laziness, and her coarse voice, and her rude manner, that Yuuna moved regally. Each movement spoke of hidden grace, and her skin, the exact shade of the clouds the moment before the night rose, looked smooth with no bumps, wrinkles, or warts, with a creamy gold-white underbelly. In an odd way, she appeared lovely almost; sleeker and lither than the other toads Sakura had seen, and as her lids slit open, she saw they were glossy black blue, deep and filled up like midnight.

And then Yuuna shook her head almost drunkenly, and yawned with a little snort, her mouth gaping wide.

_So much for elegance,_ Sakura thought.

As if not quite there yet, Yuuna blinked at Sakura a few times. Then she looked at her with an expression the girl couldn't read.

"Well. Now who the hell is this?"

Ignoring Sakura's nervousness and not missing a beat, Ma introduced her charge. "THIS is Sakura Haruno. The important matter."

The purple healer nodded, staring at Sakura, adding, "And she's not a toad summoner."

Biting her petal pink lip, Sakura wondered how she knew.

"Yes, that's right," Ma admitted. "She's here under, er, special circumstances. We came to ask permission from you to allow Sakura to study the mountain's plants. She's a medic you see, one with great potential-"

"Perhaps among humans," Yuuna suggested before snatching an errant fly with her tongue.

As if she hadn't been interrupted, Ma continued, "And because she has such talent, I hoped you might let a healer toad train her as well."

The large black eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Let a healer train her?" Yunna questioned, skepticism and amusement rasping with her words.

"Yes."

"And why," she drawled, "should I let this silent waif learn the toads' secrets? Though I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit intrigued."

Ma smirked, and Sakura swore mischief sunk into the folds of the toad's ancient skin.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Intimidation crawled over Sakura for a brief moment, but just as quickly she shoved it aside. She set her face and tried to look confidently at Yunna, who now appraised her. Like hell if she was going to let herself be scared off.

The healer noticed, commenting, "Oh, so you're a stubborn one."

Speaking up for the first time, Sakura coolly retorted, "Only when I have to be."

Yuuna laughed. "Hah! Good, I like stubbornness, it amuses me. Also bitchiness. But you know…" And she paused like the drag of a cigarette, contemplating the girl who stood before her, a pretty but unspectacular entity.

"I also enjoy directness. I think instead of asking, I'll just see for myself what makes you so _special_."

Trying to make herself sound nonchalant, Sakura asked, "And how will you do that?"

The smile stretching Yuuna's face reminded Sakura more of a fox than any toad she had met.

"Oh, it's quite simple, for me at least. For you it'd be impossible."

Sakura twitched, but then hid it, hoping the infuriating healer hadn't noticed.

"Is that true?" Sakura asked, schooling her voice into what she felt was a calm inflection, and not one that wanted to enlist the toad for shuriken practice

"Yep," the toad responded, the damn grin growing.

_Bitch. _"Then enlighten me," Sakura forced through a clenched smile.

"With pleasure." Then a violet smear blotted the sky, tearing the blue and curving in an arc off the mushroom cap. Sakura ran to the edge, and stared down, spying Yunna waiting on the mossy ground with an expression that told the girl, if toads had fingernails, the healer would be examining hers.

Yuuna glanced up at the fair rose. "Coming?"

With a burst of chakra to match the toad's bound, Sakura leapt off the edge, landing - well, like a ninja - and straightened herself up, her thorns prickling.

"Here."

Yuuna chuckled, and Sakura was starting to wonder if she ought to keep a tally of how many times the toad laughed at her.

Without speaking, the healer hopped off just a little ways, to settle right by the sun-stained half of the stream that circled around. Checking behind her, Sakura saw that Ma was coming down the toadstool staircase, taking her time, and seeing Sakura's gaze, gave her little 'shoo!' motion. Sakura obeyed the silent command, crossing the glade to stand beside Yuuna.

"Now sit," Yuuna ordered, and again, the girl did as she was told, because if she was going to get stronger with Naruto, and help Naruto, and be tied with Naruto, she would do what she had to.

Yuuna crouched in silence for a moment, watching the slight girl calmly fold her legs underneath herself and look up with a daring intensity in her eyes, and the toad felt almost impressed. Almost.

"Now what I'm about to perform is a high-level jutsu of us healing toads. You can call it medical, but it has purposes beyond the hospital. It's damn useful too."

The medic in Sakura became enticed, and she barely leaned forward.

"It's a scanning jutsu. I won't go into all the details, mostly because I don't feel I like it, but I'll give you the basics. It's able to read your chakra, your current health condition, and your emotional state. You know chakra pulses?"

Sakura nodded.

"As you know them, those are intentional signals of energy, like to break genjutsu, sent out by an individual. They can also seep through when a person displays a great use of chakra, though only the strongest bastards can do that."

An image of a grinning boy flashed through Sakura's mind, but she brought her attention back to the healer.

"Well, the thing is, that's not accurate. See your chakra, as long as you're not dead, is always sending out little pulses of energy. After-all, it's pure energy, life force right? Energy doesn't just stay frozen until you need to use it. That's why ninja can find someone's chakra signature, because the chakra is always there, and while some can get close, and fool many, no one can blanket it completely. But the thing is, that signature is really just a blurry image of all the individual pulses chakra gives off. Though it's extremely difficult, in fact impossible for most, these pulses can be scanned to reveal information about a person. A lot of information. What jutsu they use, if they're a genjutsu, ninjutsu or taijutsu type, what nature type they are, how large are their chakra coils, how great is their chakra control, how developed their chakra is, and a lot of other crap."

Sakura's eyes spanned wide, overfilled with green, but Yuuna wasn't done.

"It's not just chakra either. Your body gives off pulses as well, which can be read like a medical chart. Everything from blood type, age, health of specific organs, illnesses, toxins in your system, poisons or venoms infecting you – a medic's dream. Your brain gives off pulses too, pulses of a different nature. Before you freak out, it's not mind reading or mind jutsu. With this technique, you can't read another person's thoughts, but you can get a grasp of intelligence, mental health and stability, along with an indicator of emotional states and feelings if you're really good."

Yuuna stopped, turned her dark eyes to the fragment of barely visible blue above, and then stuck her ink splotch stare to Sakura.

"Basically, as long as the person is still breathing, it's a fucking handy jutsu."

Sakura couldn't agree more.

"With that out of the way," Yuuna announced, leaning towards Sakura just a bit, "Get ready."

Before another word could slip from her lips, or her green eyes could gape more in slack-jawed wonder, something like the slightest touch of hundreds of needle-tips tracing patterns over her body began to overpower her senses and Sakura relinquished herself to the jutsu.

* * *

**Well, how's my first OC attempt? Physically speaking, she's really more like a tree frog than a toad - but Kishimoto makes his toads, which are most often in nature neutrally colored, rainbow-splashed and crazy bright - so I took some creative license. But she IS a toad. **

**I also hope no one is too offended by Yuuna's foul language. :)Let me know what you think. **

**I also know there was lack of Naruto and Sakura interaction but it's necessary for the story, so forgive me! **


	10. Wondering

**Obligatory warning that I do not own Naruto. Now let's move on, shall we? :)**

* * *

Pushing past the night-draped growth, exhausted and sore all over, Naruto wondered how all these shades of green could possibly exist.

Honestly, ever since he had arrived it had baffled him. Emerald, viridian, celadon, verduous- a lot of flowery sounding words Sakura doled out whenever he asked how she would describe every hue that bombarded his mind. She rolled her eyes each time, shoved him in the shoulder before smiling, laughing her little laugh while she explained to him. The fact that there were so many words for just one color both horrified and astounded him.

Naruto had voiced that opinion aloud to Sakura yesterday as they were lying in the grass underneath the stars. She had snorted, then fell apart into a fit of giggling, holding her sides as she tried to muffle her mouth into the grass. When he tried to ask what was so funny, she had just laughed louder, with little gasps of "idiot" in-between.

There had been a lot of laughter surprisingly, ever since they had come to Myobokuzan. Even though it had only been two days **-** and he had spent the majority of those two days training himself into frustration with meditation, at mealtimes and sundown, he brought his battered body back to the sight of Ma, Pa, and Sakura.

Sakura. Now seeing her, that was definitely worth eating any stomach-turning concoction of Ma's.

As he aimlessly mused upon toad delicacies and vaguely formed images of a pink-haired girl nursing him back to health from said delicacies, something caught the corner of his eye. He squinted, craning his neck to look above before recognizing a pair of paper pale legs dangling off a leaf as wide as a porch. Naruto stopped. Then grinned.

Gathering chakra in the soles of his feet, he crept up to a stem right across from the one where somewhere ridiculously high up, Sakura perched unsuspectingly. He scaled the stalk of green before finally landing on a leaf just a few yards from where Sakura lounged. The boy crouched. He was out of her range of vision.

His plan was to jump onto her leaf and surprise, and of course scare, her. While he knew the setup likely would end up with him worse for the wear, the twelve-year old prankster lying in wait underneath the surface couldn't resist such a perfect opportunity. In anticipation, Naruto turned to spy her exactposition so he didn't land right on top of her, for while she couldn't see him, he could most certainly see her now that he had adjusted a bit-

Naruto froze. Oh, Kami.

Her eyes were half lidded. Her mouth set in that certain small smile that made Naruto almost forget she was a ninja; she appeared so peaceful. She swung her feet back and forth through the air as easily as if she were sitting on the old swing-set in the academy schoolyard, and not on an over-sized houseplant. Fragments of a half-hazard, half-hummed tune drifted from her so gently it was barely more than breathing. And under the emerging moon, her eyes glowed such a green that he couldn't even grasp for a pretty synonym, their focus murky **-** lost in thought or memory or some other recess of mind; it hurt to look at her, in a good way. In a breathless, chest-tightening, painful, good way.

Naruto dropped his head into his palm and cursed. Thoughts like that and moments like this were a deadly combination for him.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to screw a smile into place, and stood up, announcing his presence instead of ninja-secret attacking her.

Immediately noticing him, Sakura sat up, lazy smile slipping away to make way for an eager one. Not seeming too surprised at him literally popping up out of mid-air, she called out to him. "Any progress today?"

With one chakra-powered surge, Naruto crossed over the gap between their leaves. He stood in front of her, balancing on the down-curving tip. "Sure," he said, as he plopped down beside her, shrugging out of his jacket at the same time, his limbs sprawling out. "If, you know, you count not sprouting warts progress."

She sighed. "Well, it's to be expected anyway. It took Jiraiya-sama years and years to learn the sage techniques. You're not going to be able to be able to master them overnight."

"Yeeeaahhh…but I'll be faster than old pervy sage. If only so I don't have to keep taking beatings from Pa's staff." Naruto remarked. He adamantly gestured towards his face. "I'm gonna be permanently black and blue all over!"

Her smirk made his heart skip a beat. "Good thing you have a master medic with you then, isn't it?"

"Er, yeah." Re-hashing his trademark grin, he dramatically clasped his hands together and gazed upward with longing, speaking wistfully. "Ahh, and you could nurse me back to health! Feeding me ramen, staying devotedly by my side, massaging my _aching_, crippled body-" The whack he received on the back of the head was to be expected.

"We'll see what cripples you, that staff or me," Sakura remarked in a light tone, flexing her fingers.

Rubbing the back of his head, he chuckled, before the movement made him grimace. "Point taken," he promised, still wincing. "Ow."

Sakura scoffed, while unsuccessfully trying to hide her laughter, in reality mostly amused and hardly annoyed. Naruto always seemed to bring that reaction out of her. She gave him a side-ways glance. Naruto made her unleash everything she had, good and bad, despite how she had resisted for such a long time, determined to be perfect; he was infuriating that way.

A tiny whisper of a thought murmured even as she pretended to be irritated that she was only too glad she wasn't that vain selfish child anymore, that he had made her while seemingly more imperfect, all the better in the end. And she admitted to herself that she couldn't argue that.

Naruto had changed her- or rather, just forced her to be more herself. With this thought winding through her mind, she examined him. Kami, he was like a walking paradox. Sometimes she still couldn't believe that he _was_ what he was: that he had so much raw power when he was so playful, how he was learning to quite literally lift mountains**,** whenhe sat in front of her like this, his attempt to fake pout failing miserably as his adorable grin peeked out ...

Sakura frowned. Adorable?

Then shrugged the thought off. She suddenly felt just a bit uncomfortable.

"So," she started, trying to distract herself, "What progress _did_ you actually make today?"

"Well…" He sat up, blond hair flopping every which way as he attempted to situate himself, legs crossed Indian style. "There's this stuff called frog oil…"

He went off into what could have been a long-winded and boring explanation of the frog oil, but being Naruto of course, proved to be an animated recount that caught Sakura up in his excitement. That was another annoying thing about him she really didn't find annoying. Just as he forced her to open up, he burst every which way, intense and overwhelming even.

When he was done, the moon had broken fully past the clouds and remnants of setting sun, a sliver of black eating away at the silver as it waned. Sakura looked up at it, wondering how it had gotten so dark so fast.

She stared up at it, as if considering it as she said, "Doesn't this all feel sort of strange?"

Naruto rolled his brown shoulder, stretching the muscle that Sakura's eyes unknowingly followed, flickering back to his face before he turned to meet her gaze. "All this? You mean…" he gestured vaguely around him, as if he was trying to gather up all Myobokuzan in his arms.

She smiled. "Not the mountain, though trust me, I don't think I've ever been anywhere that made me drop my jaw so many times. I meant more…the atmosphere. What we're doing and learning, the fact _WE'RE_ the ones here." Her pale pink lips paused, pursing in consideration. "Well, not strange to find you here, learning from toad sages and whatnot, weird things are sort of normal for you," she amended. "I guess more that it's strange that I'm here too, learning from a Master Toad medic, who's probably centuries old for all I know, like I'm some sort of prodigy like you or - or you know."

She chuckled dryly. "It's just surreal."

Still smiling, it fell away slack as the medic noticed the frown distorting Naruto's expression. She flinched. True frowns were unnatural on Naruto. Pouts no; frowns yes.

The downturn of his mouth stayed in place, making Sakura shift before getting frustrated and demanding, "What?"

His face didn't change a bit as he said, "You are a prodigy."

Sakura's discomfort was forgotten for a moment as she let out a bark of laughter. She responded, sarcastically, without a second of thought**,** "Yeah, right."

The blue of his eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "You _are_."

Now she truly stopped. Truly saw how serious he seemed. And she couldn't think of any snappy retort. She couldn't think of anything.

Ignoring her silence, Naruto continued. "Why is it hard to believe that Yuuna would want to train you? You're _talented_. You're one of the best ninja I've ever met. I know that Tsunade thinks the same, hell the old hag wouldn't give you such special attention otherwise. Do you know how hard it was to convince her take the position of hokage, to undertake what so many scheme and try to claw their way to? She has different standards than most people, standards you met."

"And besides," he added, the expression changing from stern to something like bemusement, "Since when the hell am_ I_ a prodigy? I mean, remember," and he gestured to himself, "The Idiot? Dead**-**last?"

The boy shook his head and when he opened his eyes again, something about the change in them made the girl feel like she was staring into a bright hot light. She parted her lips, whether it was to say something, she didn't know, because once again, she couldn't think.

He stood up, making her look up at his face, catching the growing defined angle of his jaw. "Don't doubt yourself. Please. Yuuna wouldn't have agreed to train you if she didn't at least have an idea of the strength I already know you have. You passed her test didn't you?"

Then he turned away, towards the spot where even in the blue ink night, he could spy the faint gray smoke from Ma and Pa's home. He looked back to her. He smiled. "Come on. Race you back to dinner."

With that he leapt off, carving through the star spattered swathes of sky before landing twenty yards away, dashing from leaf to leaf.

Sakura stayed where she was, considering, remembering memories of just two days ago.

"_You passed her test didn't you?"_

* * *

Sakura gasped, sucking in air even though she knew that she hadn't been deprived of oxygen. Regaining her composure, hand grasping her chest, she straightened her bent neck to find the toad who had done this to her.

Yuuna was still in front of her, just like she had been moments ago when the needle like sensation came to Sakura, eyes as black as ever. Except now they looked at her differently. Sakura ignored her for the moment.

Now slowly returning to reality, she tried to remember the so called scanning jutsu. She struggled as to how to describe it before deciding. It had been duality: the needles had traced across her skin before piercing into her skin all at once, bringing no pain but only sensations weaving in and out of her. Making her drift away from her very own body, only to have the next moment make her feel intensely aware and heightened to every one of her senses; succumbing to a numbness, almost nothingness of mind and then feeling as if someone was quite literally touching her thoughts, feelings, and energy, thumbing through them like a pile of junk mail.

With that, she became aware of someone staring at her**;** the feeling of being watched. Knowing who it was, she raised her gaze to meet that of the master healer of the mountain. Sakura could now notice Ma, standing off to the side looking concern and anxiety stretched along the folds of her face, but Sakura did nothing. The girl waited for her to speak first.

I think," Yuuna began, as if letting the words slide out one by one they were so considered, "You might prove interesting."

Ma let out a very audible breath.

"In fact," and here her voice gained its former bluster, "I've decided you might even entertain me. So I'll be the one to train you."

As Yuuna spoke, Sakura had been determined to appear indifferent and confident. However, her determination fell apart when her mouth and eyes opened widely. It didn't help that Ma let out a very loud declaration of, "What?!"

The purple toad let out a careless little scoff. "Oh hush, it's not that big a deal. I just happen to be very bored right now and this underfed little girl is..." she paused, her rapid fire retort halting before continuing. "There's more than meets the eye I suppose." Yuuna appraised her with that expression that all the toads she met seemed capable of, mimicking the appearance of raising non-existent eyebrows.

"And to top it off you're bonded too. Been ages since I've seen one of those." Yuuna called over her shoulder, "Nice for you not to fill me in, hag." She turned back to speak to Sakura. "Though that's definitely not the only reason I think you might make a fun project. It's more like the cherry on top." She chuckled.

"Can't wait to meet this guy of yours. Better be decent looking." She prodded again, "Well, is he? Come on, dirty details!"

For the first time, Yuuna thought maybe, perhaps she had said too much, for the pink haired girl's eyes were opened to the point that the toad thought they would consume her face, if not her entire stick frame. A stick, but a pretty stick at that, even if her eyes were unnervingly big at the moment. And she had potential. _I could almost be jealous, _she thought, smirking at the ridiculousness if she was. The smirk only grew into a grin as she looked over her newest student, the only student she had taken on in over a century.

"Oh, this is going to be very interesting. I wonder what'll happen?"

* * *

As Sakura raced off breaking through the thick cool air, chasing Naruto towards their impending dinner, she couldn't help the need to repeat those words within herself, a different intent behind them, one she was yet to understand or even recognize.

She stared at the back of her best friend's head, watching as he turned back every so often to flash her a brilliant smile.

_I wonder what will happen next?_

* * *

**Low action sort of chapter but I like it. I know I've disapeared for ages, but I've realized my crazy hectic life means I just never know when I'm going to have time to write. So while of course I'm never EVER going to give up this fic until it is finished, updates will probaly always be...unpredicatable. But I have to say, thank you guys who review me regularly SO MUCH. You guys are fantastic, and the new reviewers I get are wonderful too. I've even gotten people just sending me PMs hoping that I'm okay and that the latest chapter is going well! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy :)**

**So. Feelgoodsharingoffeelings out of the way- hope you enjoyed, reviews bring joy, and critiques welcome.**


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